
(■i,,ss Ehh ^ 



7 



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61sT Congress]. 
3d Session ) 



SENATE 



f DOCCMENT 

\ No. 875 



) '^ \ O - i'^ ! 1. 



STEPHEN BENTON ELKINS 

(Late a Senator from West Virginia) 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED IN THE SENATE 

AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OF THE UNITED STATES 



Proceedings in the Senate 
February 11, 1911 



Proceedings in the House 
January 7. 1912 



COMPILED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING 



Mfe 



WASHINGTON 
1912 






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^ 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page. 

Proceedings in the Senate. 5 

Prayer by Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D 5,7 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Scott, of West Virginia 9 

Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire 18 

Mr. Depew, of New York 21 

Mr. Bailey, of Texas 30 

Mr. Watson, of West Virginia 35 

Proceedings in the House 39 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 39 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Hughes, of West Virginia 45 

Mr. Davis, of West Virginia 49 

Mr. Mann, of Illinois 53 

Mr. Sulzer, of New York 56 

Mr. Littlepage, of West Virginia (50 

Mr. Brown, of West Virginia 63 

Mr. Hamilton, of West Virginia 66 

Mr. Clark, of Missouri 70 

Mr. Langley, of Kentucky 78 

Eulogy by Hon. George W. Atkinson 70 

Remarks bv Rev. Dr. Wallace RadclilTe 83 



[3] 



DEATH OF HON. STEPHEN BENTON ELKINS 



Proceedings in the Senate 

January 5, 1911. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D., offered 
the following prayer: 

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who compassest 
our path and our lying down and art acquainted with all 
our ways. Thou knowest the sorrow of our heart, as also 
the frailty of our nature. But for the assurance of Thy 
grace, how could we endure the vicissitudes of life? 
Thanks be to Thee, our Father, that Thy love abides 
through evei-y change. Thou hast given and Thou hast 
taken away ; blessed be Thy name. 

We remember before Thee him whom Thou hast called 
from our midst. Lighten the sorrows of our hearts, we 
pray Thee, and be with those against whose lips this cup 
of grief is most closely pressed. Uphold us by Thy holy 
spirit, and grant that neither life with its burden nor 
death with its sorrow may separate us from Thee, who 
art our God and our Savior. 

And unto Thee, who art able to keep us from falling, 
and to present us before Thy presence without fault in 
exceeding joy, be glory on earth and in heaven, now and 
forevermore. Amen. 

Mr. Scott. Mr. President, it becomes my painful duty 
to announce to the Senate the death of my colleague, 
the Hon. Stephen B. Elkins, which occurred at his rosi- 

[5] 



MEMORIAL Addresses: Senator Elkins 

dencc in this city at 12 o'clock last night. After a long 
and serious illness, making a brave figjit for his life, as 
he always had fought bravely for the principles that 
he believed to be right, he has answered to the roll call 
on the other side. 

To me, Mr. President, his death brings deep personal 
sorrow and the countr\' suffers a great loss. West Vir- 
ginia especially has suffered one of the severest blows 
with which she could possibly have been inflicted. 

At some future time, Mr. President, T shall ask the 
Senate to pay fitting tribute to his memory. At this time 
I offer the following resolutions and ask for their present 
consideration. 

The Vice President. The Senator from West Virginia 
offers the following resolutions, which will be read. 

The resolutions were read and unanimously agreed to, 
as follows : 

liesolveci, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow 
of the death of the Hon. Stephen Benton Elkins. late a Senator 
from the State of West Virginia. 

licsolved. That a eoinmittee of 17 Senators he appointed hy 
the Vice I*resident to take order for superintending the funeral 
of Mr. Elkins. 

liesolved, That as a further mark of respect his remains be 
removed from his lale honu- in lliis cily to IClkins, \V. Va., for 
Ijurial in charge of the Sergeant at Arms, atti-ndod l)\ Ihr com- 
mittc-r, wlio sliall have full power to cany thesi- resohitions 
into elfi-ct. 

licsolved, 'I'lial the Secretary coinnuinicate these jirocecdiiigs 
to the House of Representatives and ic(|uest the House to aiii)oinf 
a committee to act with the committee of tlu' Senate. 

The Vice President ap|)()inted as the committee, under 
the second resolution. Mr. Scott. Mr. Hale, Mr. Five. Mr. 
Al(h-ich, Mr. ('iiMom, Mr. (lallinger, Mr. T><)dge. Mr. Bacon, 
Mr. Tillman, Mr. Kcan, Mr. Bailev, Mr. Foster, Mr. Stone, 



[6] 



Pro(;eei)in(.s in the Senate 



Mr. Crane, Mr. Carter, Mr. Smith of Maryland, and Mr. 
Root. 

Mr. Scott. Mr. President, as a further mark of respect 
to the memory of my deceased colleague, I move that the 
Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was unanimously agreed to; and (at 12 
o'clock and 6 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until 
Mondays January 9, 1911, at 12 o'clock meridian. 

January 23, 1911. 
Mr. Scott. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and the 
Senator from Colorado [Mr. Guggenheim] 1 desire to 
give notice that on Saturday, February' 11, at half past 
2 o'clock in the afternoon, I shall ask the Senate to con- 
sider resolutions in memory of the late Senator Elkins, 
of West Virginia, and the late Senator Hughes, of 
Colorado. 

Saturday, Febriiari/ 11, 1911. 
The Chaplain, Rev. Ulysses G. B. Pierce, D. D., offered 
the following prayer: 

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, whom alike the 
living and the dead praise, we thank Thee for this day of 
reverent memory and of tender recollection. We thank 
Thee, who art the giver of every good gift and of every 
perfect boon, for the lives and services of those whom our 
lips shall this day name. It is hard to yield up those who 
have labored by our side and have shared our councils. 
As they stand again before us in memorj^ and again live in 
our hearts, teach our tongues fit words to utter our sense 
of loss and to voice our unchanged devotion. Sanctify 
to us, we implore Thee, the services of this day, and make 
us worthy of the fellowship of those who in newness of 
life dwell with Thee in Thy heavenly kingdom. Join our 

[7] 



Memorial Addrkssks : Sknator Elkins 

hearts with theirs, and unite our spirits with the faitliful 
and true, there and here, in one Hght of faith, one beauty 
of hoHness, one repose on Thee. 

And unto Thee, our Father, who hast h)ved us and blest 
us and given us eternal eonifort and good hope through 
grace, will we ascribe praise now and foreverniore. 
Amen. 

The Presh)ing Officer (Mr. Cirtis in the chair). The 
hour of lialf past 2 o'clock having arrived, the special 
order of the Senate will be taken up. 

Mr. Scott. Mr. President, in pursuance of the notice 
that I gave on January 23, I offer the resolutions which 
I send to the desk and ask for their adoption. 

The Presiding Officer. The Secretary will read the 
resolutions submitted by the Senator from West Virginia. 

The resolutions (S. Res. 316) were read, considered by 
unanimous consent, and unanimously agreed to, as 
follows : 

liesolvcd, That the Senate has luard with profound sorrow of 
the death of Hon. Stephen B. Elkins, late a Senator from the 
State of West Virginia. 

liesolvcd, 'ihat as a mark of respeet to the iiuinory of tlie 
deceased the l)iisiness of the Senate be now suspended to enable 
bis associates to i)ay i)rojH'r trit)ute to his hi.nh character and 
distinguished services. 

liesolvcd. That tlie Secretary cominuiiicalc these rcsohilioiis to 
the House of lU-presentatives and transmit a copy flureof to the 
family of the deceased Senator. 



[8] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Scott, or West Virginia 

Mr. President: To-day the Senate pays its last tribute 
of respect to the memory of my late colleague, Stephen 
Benton Elkins. Words of praise spoken here fall short 
of being adequate to measure our affection for the one 
who has passed on or the loss his countrymen feel, for a 
mighty man has passed away; a great leader is no longer 
with us; a tall cedar has fallen. While our lips pay him 
this acknowledgment of remembrance, we know that his 
deeds live after him and that he can not soon be forgotten. 

Why does the Nation mourn? Why does the State of 
West Virginia feel that she has suffered a loss that can 
not be measured? Because a man wise in counsel, strong 
in action, a doer of great deeds, a builder up of wilder- 
nesses, a constructive man, a power in the market and in 
the forum, a lovable, genial companion, has passed from 
our mortal sight forever. It is to bear testimony to these 
qualities — the qualities which made the man — that we 
are here to-day. As his colleague and his friend, it be- 
comes my duty to try to give some estimate of the man 
and his worth to our Nation, as well as to the State he so 
faithfully represented. 

Perhaps no Member of the United States Senate was 
more widely known and respected than he. The quali- 
ties which make up American manhood were found to 
the full in him, for the qualities which tend to the up- 
building of a republic found him a channel through which 
to act. His upbringing was similar to that of tliousands 
of young Americans. Reared on a farm in Ohio, his 

[9] 



IMi:morial Addhi:ssi;s: Senator Elkins 

thirst lor education took him through college at the head 
of his class, and the spirit which has built up first the 
eastern and then the western sections of our great Re- 
public started him on his career. The great war between 
the States was on, and notwithstanding the fact that his 
father and family felt it their duty to cast their sympathy 
with the Confederate States Mr. P2lkins was forced by 
his convictions to cast his lot with the Union. A short 
but creditable career in the Army found him at the end 
of that great conflict on the threshold of manhood — the 
future all before him. The Middle West being settled, 
the golden Southwest tempted him, and New Mexico 
became liis home. 

Determined to succeed in his chosen profession, the 
law, he found it necessary, on taking up his residence in 
New Mexico, to learn the Sj)anish language. Just starling 
his career in a strange land this fact did not daunt him, 
and in less than a year he possessed a fluency in this 
tongue which aided materially in advancing his influence 
and popularity. Though a success in the law, yet polit- 
ical life was to him alluring. The close contact with men 
who were doing Ihings, who were leading, was most en- 
ticing, and it is not strange that he was soon a nunihi-r of 
the Territorial legislatiii'e and eonimenced that polilieal 
career which was to be so full and comj)lete. In a few 
years he was made attorney general ol tin- Territory; two 
years afterwards I'nited Stales distiiel attorney, and a 
few years al tirw ards he was ehosi'n to ('ongress, where 
he served two terms in the House of Kepresentati\ ts and 
made a name and a reputation I'oi' himsilf. \\\ci) in the 
early seventies, while a niembei' ol the House, he intro- 
(hieed a hill lor the statehood ol Niw Mexico, which 
passi'd the House by over a Iwo-lhirds vote, |)asse(l the 
Senate with an amendmenl. and only tailed to hei-onie a 
law because.' of lack ol time to lake it up again in the 

[101 



Address of Mr. Scott, or West Vir(;inia 

House. During these years of the practice of his profes- 
sion and his first introduction into politics he did not, 
however, lose sight of the business opportunities which 
presented themselves. So successful was he along these 
lines that at the expiration of his term in Congress he 
was able to commence the great work of development 
which associated him with the State of West Virginia, and 
led eventually to his becoming a power in the business 
as well as in the councils of the Nation. 

At that time the great riches of the State which he so 
long represented in the upper branch of Congress were 
but little known to the outside world. It is true that 
stories almost as fantastic as fairy dreams were told of 
the great wealth lying undeveloped in the hills of West 
Virginia. A large portion of the State was almost a 
wilderness, traversed only by a few country roads and 
sparsely inhabited by a home-loving, liberty-seeking peo- 
ple. To develop this wilderness required capital, energy, 
and business enterprise of no mean degree. To this task 
Mr. Elkins, in company with his distinguished father-in- 
law, ex-Senator Henry G. Davis, a most noted citizen of 
our State, dedicated his life. The result in the years that 
followed more than justified his judgment. The wilder- 
ness was made to bloom and blossom; railroads were 
built, mines were opened up, towns were erected, and 
nowhere in this broad land of ours can happier, more 
contented, more enterprising communities be found than 
among these mountains and hills which he helped to 
bring in touch with civilization. Following the line of 
his railroads came schoolhouses, churches, and colleges, 
and to-day located within the confines of the once wilder- 
ness are an educated and God-fearing people. 

I first met Mr. Elkins in the campaign of 1881, when 
he was striving to have James G. Blaine elected President 
of the United States. He was then, as I have always 

[llJ 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

known him since, an aggressive, energetic, wide-awake, 
alert man, and was much interested in the election of 
Mr. Blaine. They were warm personal friends and had 
been associated in business. It was a great disappoint- 
ment to Mr. Elkins when it was finally decided that Mr. 
Blaine was defeated. Smilingly he accepted the result, 
but he always held that several thousand votes in New 
York should have been counted for him which were 
counted for another candidate. This election ended Mr. 
Elkins's active participation in politics until he became 
thoroughly a citizen of West Virginia and commenced to 
help build up in our State the Republican Party, in whose 
principles he thoroughW believed. 

In the year 1888 I was again thrown closely with him 
in the nomination and election of Mr. Harrison. Mr. 
Elkins, with the assistance of several other prominent 
politicians and friends of Mr. Harrison, perhaps did more 
to give him the nomination than any other man in the 
United States. From this period on my personal ac- 
quaintance with Mr. Elkins became closer and closer, and 
as the years went by I esteemed more highly his friend- 
ship. During these years he was a power in West Vir- 
ginia. His genial, sunny disj)osition made him friends on 
ever}' side. His poise of mind, his great inlclhel, helped 
liiin to hohl his friends, made him a leader of leaders, 
and eventually led in 1891, when West Virginia became 
Hepul)h'eaii for llie first time in ahnosl a geiuralion, to 
his hiiiig the Republican eaniUdiilc for rniled States 
Senator. The legislature silcelcd him, and Mv. Elkins 
then became tlie first Republican ]\h'mber of llie Enited 
States Senate in many years from the so-called solid 
South. 

The hisl(ti-y of these yeai's, h'aihiiLj U|) to his eh-elion 
;in(i re( leelion to the Sen;ile, is ;i |);irt of the history of 
tile de\ (lopnient and wealth ol' onr Nation, and espi'eiaily 



[12] 



Address of Mr. Scott, of Wi:st Virginia 

of our State. It is impossible to attempt, even in the 
briefest manner, to estimate the influence of Mr. Elkins 
without referring to the material development of the large 
section of countiy in which he was interested. He was a 
great captain of industry, and as such became known and 
respected everywhere. To him and his associates is due 
directly the building of four railroad lines through dif- 
ferent sections of West Virginia — lines that total about 
500 miles and are now feeders to great through systems. 
When one remembers that these roads were built over 
mountains, across deep ravines, through an undeveloped 
and virgin country', it can readily be seen that great 
judgment was necessary and a great faculty for the man- 
agement and control of men. These faculties he pos- 
sessed to a high degree and they bound him to the labor- 
ing man, the merchant, and the capitalist. He always 
endeavored to establish confidence and harmony between 
employer and employee, and personally his political ene- 
mies loved him as much as his political friends. The 
improvements to the rivers of West Virginia have been 
largely due to his influence; changes in railroads stand to 
his farsightedness, and there has been no material ad- 
vancement of far-reaching importance in our mountain 
State for the past 25 years in which he has not had a 
part. A thriving city on the top of one of the Allegheny 
Mountains bears his name; a college directlj' honors his 
memor\% and from the north to the south and the cast to 
the west of our State his memorj' is closely bound in 
achievements of all kinds. 

Politically, Mr. Elkins was a Republican. He believed 
in the principles of that party. He studied with the eye 
of a student the progress of the protective principle; he 
saw that it built up and did not destroy; tliat it was con- 
structive and not destructive; that it made happier the 
poor man and gave him greater advantages; and to the 



[13] 



Mkmohial Addhkssls: Sknatoh Klkins 

development of this principle he devoted his time and his 
energ}'. He believed in progress and did his best to bring 
to the markets of the \vorld the undeveloped wealth of 
one State. He believed that the principles of the party 
to which he belonged aided in his doing this, and he was 
broad enough to stand for its extension to everj' other 
State of the Union. He believed this party right, and he 
fearlessly stood for wliat lie thought was true. 

The career of Mr. Elkins was laid in troublesome times. 
With liim it was a struggle, a fight, from beginning to end. 
Struggling for an education, taking part in the great Civil 
War, conquering a foreign language, wresting supremacy 
from the hands of nature, fighting for political principles 
that he thought right — these occupied his attention to the 
end. But Mr. Elkins was constituted to enjoy these 
struggles, in the larger sense, and to him the overcoming 
of a difficulty was a pleasure and a pride. In the latter 
years of his life his wonderful personality, his command- 
ing genius, his whole-souled geniality served him in the 
contests with his political foes without and within his own 
party. Perhaps one of the deepest regrets of his life was 
the fact that he was unable to take an active part in the 
late campaign in our own State. Smiling, he fought until 
he could fight no more. 

Mr. Elkins was a scholar, and in his books he found 
rest from the strife of tlu' outsidi' world. He loved his 
classics, and his Latin or (ireek he could read with I'ase 
at any time. A great student of llu- Hible, he found solaei' 
and comfort there. Full of humor, he could find some- 
thing to smile at most anywhere, and was ready and apt 
with (luolalion oi" simile. 

As an iliusli;iti()ii ixilh of his ioxe ol books and his 
l)o\\( r <»l c()in|)arison. 1 may be pi rmilted lo iilale an 
anecdote. Duiing one of our heali'd parly lights, afh r a 
State convention which bade fair to split in two our paily 



[14] 



Address of Mr. Scott, of West Virginia 

and over which he had presided, at a great expense of 
vital force, he returned to his home at Elkins. For sev- 
eral weeks the opposing press and some of the papers of 
his own political faith bitterly upbraided him for his 
rulings in the convention, for his " bossism," and for the 
ruination he was bringing on his party. After these 
vituperations had traveled from one end of the State to 
the other, a visitor to his hospitable home found him sit- 
ting in his library reading and smiling. In answer to an 
inquiry, he turned to his visitor and said: 

I have been comforting myself reading the Book of Job; but 
I don't think Job was in it with me. 

His career in the Senate is w^ell known. In his early 
service, assigned to important committees, he became a 
painstaking student of all legislative questions coming 
before this body. With a well-stored mind, a fund of 
information seldom excelled, he was a ready debater, and 
gradually won his way to the front. After 16 years of 
service in this body he w^as the peer of anyone, unexcelled 
by none. 

Important legislation bears his name. His influence 
was felt in all directions. Sure of his position, he could 
meet with a smile the attacks of those who differed from 
him on matters at issue, but never lost himself. It was 
largely due to his geniality, his grasp of details, his power 
of comprehension, his unfailing courtesy, that the great 
railroad measure which passed this body at the last ses- 
sion became a law. As a legislator none in this body 
will say me nay when I cry that a great man in tlie coun- 
cils of the United States Senate has gone from us. 

That such a character should attract to it other great 
natures was inevitable. So it is not strange that Mr. 
Elkins numbered among his warm and personal fricMids 
some of the greatest names in the history of our country 

ri5] 



Mk.mohial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

in the last half of the nineteenth century. Stretching 
from the time of Lincoln to that of Taft, what an oppor- 
tunity ^vas his of thoroughly enjoying the friendship of 
the men who have been shaping the financial and political 
destinies of our countrj'. Intiniately associated with Mr. 
Blaine, he undoubtedly would have occupied a prominent 
position in the latter's political family had he become 
President of the United States. His close friendship to 
Mr. Harrison led to his selection by tiiat President as Sec- 
retary of War, and in this important position his con- 
structive genius had full sway and its effects are still felt. 
Connected by business ties with the greatest financiers of 
our age, he possessed their personal esteem and confi- 
dence. A Presbyterian in religious convictions, he could 
yet enjoy the close friendship of the cardinal of the 
Church of Rome. Intensely American in every fiber of 
his nature, he was on loving terms of friendship with the 
distinguished men of foreign nations who have repre- 
sented their Governments at this capital for the past 
([uarter of a century. Tt) his competitors along business 
lines he was courteous and friendly, and he numbered 
among his close followers and friends in his own State 
all of his largest business opponents. To Ihi' humblest 
West Virginian he was always accessible, and greeted him 
with the same kindly interest with which he met a (lij)lo- 
mat, a prelate of the church, oi* a great financier. 

il is no wonder, llicn, Uial around his bier stood men 
whose nanus will li\c in history; lliat lo\inL,f liil)ulis to 
his nuniory and to his kindly beai'l came from ail around 
the woild. it is no wonder thai llu' newspapirs of liiis 
bioad land of onrs, those impaitial judges of nu'n. car- 
tied to all Americans the news of his passing on and Iheii" 
judgment of his work and woitli. It is no wonder thai 
in his own Stale, fi'om e\iiy town aiul handel, from 
every city, expressions of ngiel and alVection came pour- 

[16] 



Address of Mr. Scott, or West Virginia 

ing in, and our large dailies were filled with such uUer- 
ances almost to the exclusion of all other matter. It is 
no wonder that on that hright January day, when his 
mortal remains were lowered to rest in a beautiful ceme- 
teiy in the city he founded, the Army flag flew at half- 
mast nearly all around the world, that his home city was 
one sorrowing community, that his State paid its tribute 
of respect and the Nation its word of farewell. It is no 
wonder that the governor of our State later appointed his 
son as his successor in the Senate, a closing tribute to the 
love and respect borne Mr. Elkins. 

Born September 26, 1841, he passed from our sight 
January 4, 1911. The wonder is that so much could have 
been crowded into a life of less than 70 years — farmer's 
boy, soldier, lawyer, legislator, Member of Congress, Cabi- 
net officer, United States Senator, and a great captain of 
industry. 

Life's struggle over, his mortal remains rest forever on 
the West Virginia hills, whitened by the snow of winter 
and carpeted bj^ the flowers of spring. But he still lives 
in his great works, his kindliness of heart, his purity of 
character, and his love for his countiy and his fellow 
man. Not soon will he be forgotten. 



87°— 12 2 [17] 



Address of Mr. Gallint.er, of New Hampshire 

Mr. President: It was my privilege to serve for nearly 
17 years in this body with the late Senator from West 
Virginia, whose death we all keenly deplore, and whose 
splendid achievements, in public and private life, will 
serve as an inspiration to those of us who knew and ad- 
mired him. Service with In'm on three of the important 
comniiltees of the Senate — Ai)propriations, Commerce, 
and Printing — covering a long i)eriod of years, gave me 
unusual opportunities to become acquainted with the 
qualities of iu-art and mind of Senator Elkins. His re- 
markable career, from boyhood days to the zenith of his 
power and influence, has been graphically told by the 
Senator from West Virginia [Mr. Scott]. For me it is 
suflicient to offer a simple tribute of affection to his 
memory. 

It is safe to say that few men liavc served in the Senate 
who have been more popular or universally esteemed 
than Senator Klkins. The morning aflei- his death, in 
till' course of an ajjpreciative review of liis lifi', the 
Washington Post liiillifnlly said: 

lie \v:is ;i man wlio inadi' rrii'iids on cvrrv liaiid, who diH'W 
jind Ill-Id llu-ni lo him, rct^ai-dicss of polilical alliliation, riiii^ious 
creed, or racial ( iiaraclerislies. Of liim it ma\ l)e said lu- was 
witlioiil an enemy. iii- was tlie ai)ostle of snnsliine. Ilie enilxidi 
Hunt of K'xid eiieer, liu- invetei'ali- I'oe of jjessimism, a sni)remi- 
<)])timis(, who saw oidy llie Ixsl in everyone and refnsed to 
helicvc lliat wiiieli was not p^ood. It was impossitde lor iiin) to 
harhor a kiihIkc, and if ever Itiis sincere and l)i}4-lu'arted man 
Kave ollciise in llie heal of (hi)ate or ixttitical discussion, lie was 
(|iiiclv lo retract and heal the woinid hefore it he.yan to iuirt. 

[18] 



Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire 

What higher tribute could be paid to any man than 
that? The man who makes and holds friends, whose 
very presence dispels gloom, and whose cheery smile and 
warm handclasp make his associates forget the little ani- 
mosities, trials, and burdens of life; such a man is an 
evangel of peace and love and happiness, and such a man 
was our late associate. 

Senator Elkins was not an orator, but he possessed 
powers infinitely more potent than that of oratory. He 
was an indefatigable worker, and knew the art of ap- 
proaching and dealing with men. He carried through the 
Senate measures of great importance to the American 
people, and in the stirring debates over the bills that he 
had in charge the success he achieved was largely due to 
his imperturbable good nature, his courteous treatment of 
his opponents, and his dogged determination to accom- 
plish results. In the statutes of his countrj' are written 
monuments of his broad-mindedness, his intense patriot- 
ism, his devotion to the public weal, and his independ- 
ence of thought and action. He was an honest and suc- 
cessful legislator, a shrewd politician, and a high-minded 
public servant, whose record will grow brighter and 
brighter as the years come and go. 

Mr. President, what more need be said? In my 20 
years' service here death has invaded the senatorial circle 
many, many times. Four honored Senators alone remain 
of those who greeted me when I entered this Chamber. 
The list of those who have departed is a long and honor- 
able one. Memory recalls the names, and tender thoughts 
touch the heart as we summon them before us. But they 
are gone, and we remain a little longer, to bear the 
burdens and the cares from which they have escaped. 
Among them all there was no more genial and lovable 
soul than the late Senator from West Virginia. He was 
so strong, so full of energ>% and so hopeful for the future 

[19] 



Memorial Addukssls : Senator Klkins 

that his death came to us all as a peculiar shock. When 
he left the Senate a notable figure passed from our view. 
His seat here is vacant, but his memory will be cherished 
and his virtues remembered by those of us who admired 
his character and valued his friendship. In the death of 
Senator Elkins this body, the State that honored him, 
and the Nation which he served so well have sustained 
an irreparable loss. 



[20] 



Address of Mr. Depew, of New York 

Mr. President: At no time in its history has death in 
so short a period removed from the Senate so many of 
its members. Daniel of Virginia, Elkins of West Vir- 
ginia, Dolliver of Iowa, Clay of Georgia, McEnery of 
Louisiana, and Hughes of Colorado were among tlie most 
valued and distinguished Senators. Many of them had 
been long in the public service and w^on national reputa- 
tions. In their careers, activities, and characteristics they 
represented distinct types of American citizenship. 

1 might select for comparison Elkins, Daniel, and Dol- 
liver. Senator Daniel was almost the last of that line of 
southern orators whose fervid eloquence and glowing 
rhetoric made famous the forum and the platform before 
the Civil War. He had lofty ideals of government and 
civic duty. He had an intense pride in the greatness and 
glory of the countiy, and drew inspiration from the past 
for guidance in the present. The wonderful material 
developments since the Civil War, the increase in na- 
tional, and especially in individual, wealth did not appeal 
to him. He never possessed either greed for gain or lust 
for fortune. He was an idealist of a rare type, whose 
great gifts were devoted to the realization of those ideals 
in the preservation of the constitutional limitations of the 
powers of the Federal and the State Governments, and 
to bringing back the people to what he regarded as the 
purer and higher life of the fathers of the Republic. A 
chivalric figure both on the battle field and in the Senate, 
he brought the knightly virtues of a romantic age lo the 
solution of the prosaic problems of the day. Senator 

[21] 



Mi:m()Hiai. Addhksses: Senatok Klkins 

DoUiver, on the other hand, was intensely modern. From 
the parsonage of his father, in which he received his 
early training, he carried into puhlic life the spirit of 
the missionary. He was possessed of a rare faculty for 
oratory, and equally brilliant in argument, appeal, ridi- 
cule, and humor. He came while young into public life 
and from a constituency which promised a long continu- 
ance in the public service. 

He never was in contact with and cared little for the 
wonderful opportunities for men of masterful genius in 
affairs which have created the phenomenal fortunes of 
the past 10 years. He was essentially a tribune of the 
people. His mind was absorbed in the solution of the 
economic problems of protection and revenue in a way 
which, according to his faith, would add to the wealth of 
the Republic and the individual prosperity of every citi- 
zen. He studied the movements of the markets with the 
sole purpose of originating and promoting such legisla- 
tion as would keep our places of trade and barter as far 
as j)ossiblc for the benefit of the producers and workers 
of (he United States. He also believed in such use of the 
prestige, power, and diplomacy of the country as would 
win an open door for our surplus in competition with the 
great manufacturing nations of the world into the Orient 
and Africa. lie died, as he had li\i"(l. on his chosen 
battlefield, using all his powers and exhausting his energy 
and vitality for ideas which he believed would eventuate 
in policies and measures for the best interests of the |)eo- 
j)le. The chiNalric kniglil from N'iiginia and the modern 
soldier i'lom Iowa tilled larne an<l useful places in our 
political economy and lia\i' lett few successors. 

Senator I'j.kins |)resente(l an entii'el\ dilVeicnt and 
e(|u;dly useful type ol Anieiiean eili/.enslii|) ;inil at'ti\ity 
in piililic lite, lie was preeniiiientK tlie liusiness man 
in polities in its best sense. He was .1 pionti-r and a j)i"o- 



[22] 



Address or Mu. Di£i>i:w, of New Yohk 



moter. He could turn the wilderness into productive pos- 
sibilities which would attract and support masses of peo- 
ple. He could project and construct railroads for the 
development of the mine and the forest, and won for 
himself by his genius for affairs an enormous fortune. 
Yet as a Senator he brought the invaluable aid of his 
experience, his business acumen, and his knowledge of 
affairs to legislation which was for the protection of the 
people against the misuse of millions and the creation or 
the existence of monopoly. 

A contemplation of the lives of these three statesmen 
presents a vivid picture of varying conditions in the 
48 Commonwealths which constitute our Federal Union. 
In many of the States there has been cultivated a hos- 
tility to corporations and wealth which builds bars of 
insuperable height and strength against any man, no 
matter how gifted, who has made a success in corporate 
management or accumulated a fortune in active business, 
becoming a representative of the people in public office. 
Such communities believe they are best served by theo- 
rists and idealists. They accept with eagerness and en- 
thusiasm the various panaceas which are so skillfully 
manufactured and so attractively presented for the cure 
of the ills of the body politic. But West Virginia and 
other States similarly situated present a remarkable con- 
trast. Limitless wealth and opportunities for employ- 
ment and the accumulation of a competence lie in the 
mines in her mountains and valleys and her primeval 
forests. Instead of locking up her boundless resources 
she welcomes capital and capitalists who will open her 
mines, build her villages, enlarge her cities, improve her 
water powers, and construct her railroads. Ever since 
her organization as a State she has sent to both Houses 
of Congress the men who were doing this work in her 
behalf, while they were accumulating, or had accunui- 



[23] 



MEMORIAL Addresses: Senator Elkins 

lated, large lortuius by their efloits. Her people recog- 
nized that every mine opened meant more families sup- 
ported and more opportunities for the youth, and every 
railroad built or extended meant the wilderness converted 
into boundless opportunities for development, for popu- 
lation, and for prosperity. She believed that the men 
whose genius, energ}', experience, and money were ac- 
complishing these results could best secure for her the 
legislation which would redound to the progress of the 
State and the benefit of its people. Senator Elkins was 
easily the leatler among these bold and adventurous 
spirits who dare risk their all, because they know if they 
live success is certain to crown their efforts. 

Elkins, the legislator, though a railroad promoter and 
owner, saw the necessity, for the protection of the people 
and of investors, of a large measure of (iovernment con- 
trol over railroad corporations. As the head of the great 
Committee of Interstate Commerce he had charge of the 
measures which have accomplished so much in the pre- 
ceding administration and the present one to remove the 
railway from politics, to reform and punish abuses, to 
give shippers and the traveling public a tribunal with 
j)ower for instantaneous redress, and to secure stability 
to biisiiuss and credit by the largest measure of (Iovern- 
ment activity in railway affairs. The antirebate 1)111, 
which goes by the Senator's name, was his own creation. 
I^y supervision and penalties he prohibited discrimina- 
tions in favor ol' individuals or fonmuinilic s and com- 
ix lied llicse great corporations to Ircal all alike. So llie 
railway lalc bill of the Hoosevell administration and the 
railroad bill of the Taff administration, distinct advances 
in the line of wisi- corpoiMtc control, greater than had 
been accomplished sinci' the first locomotive was plact d 
U|)oii the tails HI years ago, passed through his I'ormalivi' 
bunds ;is the chairman of the connniltee that had them in 



[24] 



Address of Mr. Defew, of New York 

charge and were conducted by his skill and genius as a 
parliamentarian in their passage through the Senate. 

A young American who has finished his college course 
and continued his law studies until admitted to the bar 
has the world before him. It is the critical initial period 
which tests the fiber of his being. He may settle down 
in his native village or take the more perilous plan of 
entering the contest in a large city or move to new terri- 
tory^ to grow up with the country. His choice and the few 
years following it indicate his future and fix his career. 
In 1864 New Mexico was as distant almost as Japan now 
is and as little known in the States. The Spanish adven- 
turer Coronado had conquered the Indians and settled it 
with his followers 70 years before the Pilgrim Fathers 
landed on Plymouth Rock. 

The Territorj-^ had been in 1864 onh' 14 years annexed 
to the United States, and its population was still over- 
whelmingly Spanish. The conservatism of the people is 
best illustrated by the fact that the first rail was not laid 
down in the Territory until 1878. Young Elkins, looking 
around for the best field for a career, selected this distant 
Territory. His magnetism, his charm, his resistless 
energ>% and the fact that within a jear he had acquired 
the Spanish language, captured the imagination and con- 
fidence of these Latins, who had met no one like him in 
the over 200 years of their settlement. They sent him to 
the legislature and elected him twice to Congress. In the 
House of Representatives he came in contact with the 
brilliant men who were Members of that body in the 
Forty-third and Forty-fourth Congresses. With his alert 
and receptive mind, with his rare faculty of soon gaining 
an intimacy with strong characters, he speedily absorbed 
an intimate knowledge of the resources and business 
opportunities of the different sections of the country. He 
recognized early the fortunes there were in the acquisi- 



[25] 



Mkmohial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

tion of coal lands, if they could be reached and developed 
by cheap transportation. He saw that the future for him 
was not in the slow-moving life of New Mexico, but in 
bringing into the channels of trade the treasures which 
had been accumulating for ages beneath the soil of West 
Virginia. I remember how, in tlic early years of his life, 
in West Virginia, I used to meet him often in New York 
trying to inspire men of means with his own confidence 
and enthusiasm in the resources of his State. Always 
hopeful, perennially optimistic, neither indifYerence nor 
incredulity nor rebuff's could discourage or dishearten 
him. He brought into the countingrooms of finance the 
fresh and invigorating atmosphere of his mountain home. 
By his earnestness, his indefatigable industry, his won- 
derful ability to win the hardest headed to his faith, he 
advanced by many years the progress and development 
of his State. 

Few versatile men are successful. Concentration is the 
secret of i)()wer, but nature endows some highly gifted 
with the ability to concentrate with equal success in many 
lines. Senator Elkins was one of these fortunate indi- 
viduals. Notwilhslanding the cares and anxieties which 
attend the initial processes of the development of nature's 
resources, he found leisure to be for 12 years one of 
the most active and influential nuinbers of the Uepub- 
lican national committee. We of the older generation 
know the trust which was reposed in him by his fellow 
nicnihcis and the cxte-nt to wliieli the grratest n-sponsi- 
bilifics wiic placfd upon his shoulders. 1 ncxci- shall 
I'orgc I a (liainatie serni- lutween him and tiu' lu publican 
candidate for Pnsidi-nt, .lames (i. Hlainc. It was just 
after the lanioiis meeting of the pii-sidential candidate 
with a thousand i'rolestant ministers when three words 
utlired by tluir spokesman ended tlu' most hopeful of 
canvasses and changed the course of American history. 



[2G] 



Address of Mr. Depew, of New York 

Mr. Elkins was responsible for bringing about this meet- 
ing, which was all right in its conception and intended to 
remove the prejudice which had grown up among Prot- 
estants because of Mr. Blaine's family relationship to the 
Catholic Church. Of course, no one could foresee that the 
preacher, who was also the spokesman, had a formula 
which he had used a hundred times successfully from the 
pulpit, but which when it became a part of the literature 
on one side of political controversy proved a can of dyna- 
mite for the cause it was uttered to promote. No one saw 
the disastrous effects of coupling together rum, romanism, 
and rebellion more clearly than did Mr. Blaine. He was 
naturally for a while not only indignant, but unreason- 
able, and yet, when he saw how deeply affected was Mr. 
Elkins, Blaine put his arm around Elkins's neck and 
said in that tone of tenderness which captured and bound 
to him thousands, " Steve, it was planned for the best and 
no one could have foreseen what has occurred." 

The few who witnessed the incident knew what a load 
it lifted from the heart of the one and how deep and 
abiding was the affection of each for the other. 

I had an illustration of Senator Elkins's methods of 
accomplishing results. After his second nomination and 
the retirement of Mr. Blaine from the Cabinet, President 
Harrison tendered to me the position of Secretary of 
State. I told him I could not take it because, as presi- 
dent of the greatest railway system in the coimtry, it 
would inject in the then inflamed condition of the public 
mind on railway questions an unnecessary issue into the 
canvass, which had four months to run before the elec- 
tion. The President did not think so, and sent Mr. 
Elkins, then Secretary of War, to persuade me. He did 
not argue with me, but said, " Come, let's take a walk," 
and he led me over to the State Deparhnenl and then 
pointed to the portraits of those who had occupied that 



[27] 



Mhmohial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

great place, among them Thomas Jefferson, John Mar- 
shall, James Madison, James Monroe, John Qiiincy 
Adams, Henr}' Clay, Martin Van Biiren, Daniel Webster, 
John C. Calhoun, Edward Everett, and William H. 
Seward, and said : 

There is a list far more eminent and distinguished than the 
Presidents of the United States. To have your picture hung in 
that line is fame. 

To Senator Elkins was granted a rare equability of 
temper and equilibrium of mind. He was an earnest 
partisan and slated his views on all public questions with 
the vigor of profound conviction, but he never uttered a 
word which injured anyone's feelings or left a sting be- 
hind. When partisan rancor was most bitter and pas- 
sions intense he was equally welcome with every faction 
of his own party and of the opposition. 

Senator Elkins was a big man physically, mentally, and 
sympathetically. Successful men have hard experiences 
with temporary setbacks, discouraging failiu'es, or faith- 
less friends and implacable enemies. Their experiences 
harden them against appeals from suflering humanity. 
But for the Senator these trials broadened his charity. 
He was remarkably free from enmities and animosities. 
To forgive and forget were his nature and policy. He 
was first beside friends in sorrow or sickness, and liis 
alVectionale interest and bracing vitality were of inlinile 
help and comfort. If liie li'oubh' was linantial, insliad 
ol' ;i\ oidiiiLi; tile u n foiliMKi le, \\ hieh is the eoinnion way, be 
would di'oj) his own great affairs to lake up those of his 
friend. If the enler|)i"ise was sound and re(|nii'e(l nion- 
pecinn'ary assistance to tide oxer the depression of a panic 
or a niislaUen calcnialion. his sagacily and money would 
change the silnalioii fioni impending bankiuiplcy to |)ios- 
p( ritv. Thotigii nol an oraloi', yel in debate upon the 



[28] 



Address of 'Sin. Defew, of New Yohk 

purely material propositions, which constitute most of 
our legislation, his common sense, practical experience, 
and lucidity made him a dangerous adversary and per- 
suasive advocate. The memory of this happy, healthy, 
helpful figure in our public life will long linger among the 
best traditions of the Senate. West Virginia is destined 
to become one of the most prosperous of our industrial 
Commonwealths. As the State grows because of the 
development of its exhaustless natural resources, so will 
the fame of one of its greatest State builders, Stephen B. 
Elkins. 



[29] 



Addhess or Mr. Bailey, or Texas 

Mr. President: When I entered the Senate I enjoyed 
but a slight acquaintance with the late Senator from West 
Virginia, Mr. Elkins, but even that had brought ine to 
appreciate those qualities which made and kept him 
easily the best-beloved Member of this body; and when 
one afternoon, soon after I had assumed my duties here, 
he crossed the aisle and proposed a permanent pair with 
me, I readih' and cheerfully consented to that arrange- 
ment. Our relation, thus established, brought us fre- 
quently into contact, and Senators will understand all the 
better what that contact meant when he volunteered to 
say that if in his absence at any time I felt that my duty 
to my people or the suitable care of my own political 
fortunes required me to vote, I was at liberty to do so, 
even though it left him without a pair. 

Our friendship, beginning almost when my term in the 
Senate began, was not only a source of constant and unin- 
terrupted pleasure to me, but it was often used by my 
other friends to their good advantage, for it becamr a 
common practice with those who knew how much 1 loved 
liiin to seek my intercession with him. When tlu- river 
and harbor bills were- pending Mend)ii's of the other 
House, not from my own State alone, but from other 
Slates, often a|)pealed to luv to interview Senator 1-1.kins 
in behalf of j)i-ojecls which deeply interi-sted them, and 
nian\ was the tinu- 1 have taken anxious Mtinbers ol" 
the House to iiini in order that they might state theii" own 
case. 

In all of those iniidiiils not once did that Senator excr 
exhihil ;in iin|);i tienee ur a|)|)ear iiidilVerent to llu' ri(|nest 
ol' .1 Men liter w hosr name jxihaps he had not know n unlil 

[30] 



Address of Mr. Bailey, oi Texas 



I had introduced him and in whose State he coukl not 
possibly have felt any local interest. Not only was he 
generous and obliging to men from all sections, but he 
was especially so to men of the section from which I 
came. He was the best friend the Southern States have 
ever possessed in this Chamber since I have been a Mem- 
ber of the Senate, and in making that statement I do not 
even except Senators from the South themselves. No 
Senator from any Southern State ever invoked the 
friendly ofTices of Senator Elkins in vain, and he some- 
times aided us in works which we believed right and 
proper though our colleagues from other Southern States 
could not agree with us. Not only in those great works 
of internal improvement, but on every other question 
which touched the honor or the interest of the South 
he was our steadfast and our unswerving friend. 

He had so impressed me with his peculiar interest in 
our States and in our section that one day, half in jest 
and half in earnestness, I said to him, " You are better 
to us that we are to ourselves, for you will help us whether 
we are right or wrong." He looked at me with that 
unfailing good nature which so won the hearts of all who 
came in contact with him, and he said, " My dear boy, to 
me the southern people are never wrong." And then, as 
if that needed to be qualified, he added, "They were 
wrong once, I suppose, when they tried to dissolve the 
Union, but that is the only mistake they have ever made, 
and I never expect to think that they have made another." 

Other Senators on this side, who often appealed, as we 
were compelled to appeal, because we were in the 
minority here, to his great influence with his colleagues 
on the other side, appreciated his services no less 
than I do. 

Mr. President, there have been many who have served 
in this great assembly who were loved and trusted by all 



[31] 



Mr-MORiAL Addrlssks: Senator Elkins 

their colleagues; there are Senators here now loved and 
trusted without measure and without question; and yet, 
without invidious distinction, I believe I may safely say 
that not one of us who are still here, and not one of those 
who have gone before us, was as universally loved and 
trusted as he was. And if I sought a reason for a fact like 
that 1 would find it in the other fact, that he loved and 
trusted us, and thus he warranted us in loving and trust- 
ing him. 

He was of that nature that, intending no evil himself, 
was not swift to impute evil motives to other men, and 
though he passed through that calumny which all success- 
ful men encounter, it left no stain upon his name and it 
left no scar upon his heart. I have seen him, when they 
were misrepresenting his purposes, and when they were 
challenging his patriotism, put such suggestions aside as 
strong men would the challenges of children, and he was 
often charitable enough to believe that the men who 
unjustly aspersed him were honestly mistaken. I almost 
envied him that virtue. 1 never envied liim his fortune, 
magnificent as they say it was; 1 never envied him his 
station, because perhaps my own was not less than his; I 
never envied him his friends, though they were manyfold 
more numerous llian mine; I never en\ied him any of 
the great and \ai'ied success which fatt' or his own i-xer- 
tion had won for him; but sometimes I did ahnost feel 
weak enough to envy him his good nature. To those of 
us wlio have a bitterness easily aroused by ungenerous 
li'ealineiil, it is ahnost incomprehensible how a man can 
be gentle and |)alienl undir erilieism whith he knows to 
be nudicious and unliulhl'ul. To those ol' us who llnd it 
<liHienIl to believe that honest nun cwv libel other men, 
il was a source of conslanl astouisluiuiil Iiow this l)ia\t- 
and U|)ri.i4hl man passed unheeded the things thai would 
lia\c deeply wounded olliers. 



[32] 



Address of Mr. Bailey, of Texas 



In all of my close and intimate association with him, 
Mr. President, I never saw him out of humor; and 1 heard 
the clerg}^man who officiated at his funeral say that he 
had never been known to lose his temper. Yet, sir, it 
must not be supposed that because he did not permit him- 
self to fall into an ugly frame of mind he was one of those 
weak and vacillating natures who can not be otherwise 
than civil. He was that strange combination, sir, of which 
we have often heard but which we seldom see in this 
world, which unites a gentle nature with the firmest pur- 
pose. He would yield and he would compromise the 
honest differences w^hich often divide men in this Cham- 
ber. He was by nature a pacificator; and he did not 
believe, as too many in high position do, that he was 
wholly right and those who differed from him were 
wholly wTong; but conceding to them as much of honesty 
and as much of wisdom as he claimed for himself, he met 
them and he sought to accomplish work, to achieve results 
by adjusting differences where differences could be hon- 
orably adjusted. But when he found that it was not a 
difference which they were seeking to adjust, when he 
found that men were striving to impose upon his good 
nature, he could reject all overtures and he could resist 
all selfish appeals as firmly as any man whom it has ever 
been my pleasure to know. Gentle, yielding to what he 
thought others believed w^as right, yet, sir, when he 
reached the limit he was as firm as the hills amongst 
which he sleeps in peace to-day. 

When w^e adjourned the last session of this body and 
he passed out yonder door, he was a specimen of physical 
and intellectual manhood such as we seldom see. Full of 
hope, full of courage, and full of honors, it seemed so 
reasonable to believe that he was likewise to become 
fuller yet of years. So robust, so eager, so devoted to all 
that is best in life, he was the last amongst all our col- 

87"-12 3 [33] 



Memorial Addrkssks : Skn.moh I-j.kins 

leagues upon Avhom we thought God would soon lay His 
hand. Stronger than any of us, in robust health, with 
much undone which he was eager yet to do, it did not 
seem, sir, that he was standing upon the verge of the 
grave, and that ere our duties called us back he would 
sink forever into its narrow bosom. 

But, Mr. President, while we stand with uncovered 
heads and with tear-stained eyes about his open grave, we 
arc not without our consolation, for it was his faith, em- 
braced no matter how late in life, it was still the faith in 
which he died, that the grave is but Die vestibule of a 
nobler, a better, and a more eternal life than that which 
he put off amidst our tears but without his fear. He has 
gone, but behind him in the records of this Nation he has 
left a monument more enduring tlian aflectionate hands 
can build for him. Clothed with the confidence and affec- 
tion of a brave and a free people, commissioned to speak 
in the highest assembly of llie world as one of the rep- 
resentatives of a sovereign Slate, that would have been 
honor enough. But that is not all of the honor which 
belongs to him and to his career, for, sir, his name is 
inseparably connected with some of the most useful and 
some of the most far-reaching legislation ever wrillen into 
the statute books of this Bepublic; and the memory of his 
service will endure as long as men read the history of the 
time in which he lived. 



34^ 



Address of Mr. Watson, of West Virginia 

Mr. President: The memory of Stephen Benton Elkins, 
for 16 years a distinguished Member of this body, will 
remain fresh and fragrant in the great State of West Vir- 
ginia through many generations. 

In the upbuilding and development of that splendid 
Commonwealth; in the progress and prosperity of its 
people; in the dignity and honor and standing it has 
achieved, he was a potent force — a fine, fearless figure 
that loomed dominant and large. 

His name will be cherished in affectionate remem- 
brance by our people, and his powerful and attractive 
personality missed and mourned for many years. In his 
death his State and this Senate has sustained a loss, the 
extent of which wdll be better realized as time passes. 

The country' as well as the community has suffered by 
the untimely taking away of this big and lovable man, 
who labored for the general welfare and whose clear 
conception of his public duties and comprehensive grasp 
of public questions marked him as a statesman of great 
force, wide influence, and tremendous achievement. 

His distinguished and inspiring career, his early strug- 
gles, the brave battle with life he made and won, his 
political and professional triumphs have been eloquently 
and feelingly described bj' Senators who have preceded 
me. His success as a lawyer, a soldier, a student, a man 
of business and finance, and as a public servant have been 
graphically and truthfully described by men who were 
at once his colleagues and his devoted friends. 

It is to Stephen Benton Elkins the man to whom I 
wish to pay tribute — the man whose genial and lovable 
nature, whose cheering smile and unchanging amiability 



[35] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator ELlkins 

attracted friends to him as the magnet draws the steel. 
His warm heart, his kindly nature bound to him those 
friends with bonds that were never broken, and now, that 
he is gone forever, his loss leaves them with a void that 
can not be filled. Time may diminish the pain they now 
feel, but the memor}' of his sunny disposition and the 
great kind heart of the man will be imperishable. 

To those upon whom the blow falls hardest — the mem- 
bers of his immediate family — the sympathy of his State, 
of the Nation, and of the people whom he served goes out 
in full measure. 

His was a full and useful life, crowded with honors and 
crowned with gratified ambitions; but absorbing as were 
his many interests and activities they were not allowed to 
diminish his love and devotion to those nearest and dear- 
est to him, and it is in his home the keenest sorrow is felt 
and the burden is heaviest. 

A sturdy oak has been uprooted. It will be a long while 
before one springs up to take the place of the towering 
tree that has fallen. 

Mr. Guggenheim. Mr. President, I offer the following 
resolution. 

The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Colorado sub- 
mits a resolution, which will be read. 

Tlie Secretary read the resolution, as follows: 

liesolvcd, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
Mr. Elkins and Mr. Hughes, the Senate do now adjourn. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to, and (at f) 
o'clock and 10 iniiiulcs |). ni.) the Senate adjourned until 
Monday, February 13, 11)11, at 12 o'clock meridian. 



[3G] 



Proceedings in the Senate 



Monday, February 12. W12. 

Mr. Chilton. I submit a resolution, and ask that it be 
read. 

The Secretary read the resolution (S. Res. 216), as 
follows : 

Resolved, That the remarks of Dr. RadclifFe on the life of the 
late Senator Elkins be printed as a part of his eulogies. 

Mr. Chilton. Mr. President, I desire to explain the 
necessity for the passage of the resolution. I learned 
to-day that, in order to have these remarks printed as a 
part of the eulogies, it will be necessary to have a resolu- 
tion adopted by the Senate. The remarks are very short, 
and I hope there will be no objection to the present con- 
sideration of the resolution authorizing the printing. 

The resolution was considered by unanimous consent 
and agreed to. 

(The remarks of Dr. Radcliffe will be found on page 83 
of this volume.) 



[37] 



Proceedings in the House 

January 5, 1911, 
The House met at 12 o'clock noon. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Henrj^ N. Couden, D. D., delivered 
the following prayer : 

Eternal and everliving God, our heavenly Father, once 
more in the ceaseless flow of time Thou hast brought us 
to the beginning of a new year, rich in the material, 
intellectual, moral, and spiritual wealth of all the past. 
Help us, we beseech Thee, with high resolves to face the 
future without fear, for as Thou hast been in our past 
so Shalt Thou be in our future, a very present help in 
ever>^ need. And grant that our failures may be stepping- 
stones to a brighter future, that, passing on, we shall leave 
to coming generations a better Government, a better 
world. 

Profoundly moved, God our Father, by the sudden 
death of one of our foremost statesmen, whose life has 
been conspicuous for many years in State and Nation, 
we pray for Thy sustaining and guiding hand, that his 
many warm friends and the bereaved family may look 
forward to the larger life with the same optimistic spirit 
which ever filled his mind and led him onward to nobler 
achievements. And Thine be the praise forever. Amen. 

Mr. Gaines. Mr. Speaker, it is with deep personal sor- 
row and a profound sense of the public loss that I rise to 
announce to the House the death of the Hon. Stephen 
Benton Elkins, late a Senator from the State of West 
Virginia. As a Member of this body, as Secretary' of 



[39] 



Mi:.M()RiAL Addresses: Senator Elkins 

War, as a Senator of the United States for IG years, and 
in olhcr public positions he served his country' with great 
distinction. 

Following the custom of the House, I shall at some 
future time ask that a day be appointed when fitting 
tril)ute may be paid to his memory and his distinguished 
public services. Now, in l)ehalf of the delegation from 
West Virginia, I offer the following resolutions, and move 
their adoption. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from West Virginia offers 
the following resolutions (H. Res. 889), which the Clerk 
will report. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

JHesolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow and 
sincere regret of the death of the Hon. Stephen B, Elkins, late 
a Senator from the State of West Virginia. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate, and send a copy thereof to the family of the deceased 
Senator. 

Resolved, That a committee of 17 Members of the House, Nvith 
such Members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to 
attend the funeral. 

The resolutions were agreed to. 

Mr. Gaines. Mr. Speaker, 1 ask unanimous consent liiat 
the Speaker be authorized to determine the number of 
the committee. 

The Si»EAKER. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

After adjournment, in pinsuanec of authority hcreto- 
foi'c granted, the S|)i'akc'r aniioiinei'd the appoinlimiil of 
the following eonuniltec : 

Mr. IInbbar<l of WesI \'irginia. Mr. Hughes of West 
Virginia, Mr. Woodyard, Mr. Stiirgiss, .Mr. (laims, .Mr. 



40: 



PROCELDlNdS IX THE HoiSE 



Mann, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Riicker of Missouri, Mr. Alex- 
ander of New York, Mr. Longworth, Mr. Calderhead, Mr. 
Livingston, Mr. Slemp, Mr. Lamb, Mr. Richardson, Mr. 
Adamson, and Mr. McCall. 

Mr. Gaines. Mr. Speaker, I also offer the following 
resolution. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from West Virginia offers 
a resolution, which the Clerk will report. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased Senator the House do now adjourn. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to. 
Accordingly (at 12 o'clock and 30 minutes p. m.) the 
House adjourned. 

Thursday, December i'f, 1911. 

Mr. Hughes of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask 
unanimous consent for the consideration of the follow- 
ing order, which I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from West Virginia asks 
unanimous consent for the consideration of the follow- 
ing order, which the Clerk will report. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Ordered, That Sunday, the 7th day of January, 1912, at 12 
o'clock m., be set apart for addresses on the life, character, and 
public services of the Hon. Stephen B. Elkins, late a United 
States Senator from the State of West Virginia. 

The Speaker. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the order. 

The question was taken, and the order was agreed to. 



[41] 



MEMORIAL Addresses: Senator Elkins 

SiNDAY, January 7, 1912. 
The House was called to order by the Chief Clerk, who 
read the following communication : 

The Speaker's Room, 
IIoLSK OF Representatives, 
Washington, D. C, January 7, 1912. 

To the House of Representatives: 

I hereby designate Hon. William G. Brown, a Representative 
from the Slate of AVesl Virginia, to act as Speaker pro tempore 

for this day. 

Champ Clark, Speaker. 

Mr. Browx took the chair as Speaker pro tempore. 
The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered 
the following prayer: 

Infinite Spirit, our God and our Father, who holdest in 
Thy heart the secret of life and the mystery of death. 
Thou knowesl the hegiiming and the end. 

Behold! we know not anything; 

We can hut trust that good shall fall 

At last— far off— at last, to all. 
And every winter change to sjjring. 

We bless Thee, O Father, lor the iJi-olound faith, sub- 
lime hope, and imjxrishabh' love — (lualilies of soul which 
inspire the ijreat thouglits, the lieroic deeds, and bind 
us together into families and friendships which shall 
live on fori'ver. We arc- met by a eoninion impulse, a 
natural desii-c to record on llu- j)ag(s ol' Iiislory the 
rounded-out eliaraelcr and si)lendid achiiNenunls of a 
faithful public servant, that his example may be an in- 
spiration to us and those who shall come after us to 
emulate bis virtues. Lei the everlasting ai-ms be about 
Ibi' ednliding and slriciviii wile, iiis ibildren, and liiends 
(irawM lo liini b\ a l(»\ing and genial nature, tbal we 



Proceedings in the House 



may look forward with bright anticipations to a reunion 
in some fairer clime where changes never come. And 
blessing and honor and praise be Thine. In the spirit 
of the Master. Amen. 

The Clerk began the reading of the Journal of the pro- 
ceedings of Friday, January 5, 1912. 

Mr. Hughes of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unani- 
mous consent that the further reading of the Journal be 
dispensed with. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from West 
Virginia asks unanimous consent that the further read- 
ing of the Journal be dispensed with. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

The Journal was approved. 

Mr. Hughes of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unani- 
mous consent that leave for 10 days to print remarks 
relating to these ceremonies be granted to the Members 
of the House. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from West 
Virginia asks unanimous consent that Members have 
leave for 10 days to print remarks relating to these 
ceremonies. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

Mr. Hughes of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I offer the 
following resolution. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from West 
Virginia offers a resolution, which will be reported by 
the Clerk. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, Ttiat in pursuance of the special order heretofore 
adopted the House proceed to pay tribute to the memory of Hon. 
Stephen Benton Elkins, late Senator from the State of West 
Virginia. 



[43] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory 
of the deceased and in recognition of liis eminent abilities as a 
faithful and distinguished public servant the House at the con- 
clusion of the memorial proceedings of this day shall stand 
adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be, and is hereby, instructed to send 
a copy of these resolutions to the family of the deceased. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to. 



[44] 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. Hughes, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: The long and intimate association with 
Senator Stephen Benton Elkins that it was my privilege 
to enjoy through many years seems to make it all the 
more difficult for me to try to paint the man as he was. 
His character had so many sides that were admirable that 
to know them all was given to but the favored few who 
enjoyed with him those rare moments he was occasionally 
able to take from the busiest life I have ever known to 
devote to the intimate intercourse of true friendship. 

Born near the town of New^ Lexington, Perrj' County, 
Ohio, in the year 1841, where his father was then living 
on a farm, in early boyhood he was taken by his parents 
to the State of Missouri, where he entered the State 
University, from w^hich institution he graduated at the 
early age of 18 with signal honors. When came the war 
that tested as may never be tested again the ability of 
this Government to live, young Elkins cast his lot with 
the Union and did his full share in that great conflict. 

Deciding upon the practice of law as his life work, he 
selected the then Territory of New Mexico as offering the 
best advantages and located there. The qualities of 
mind that so distinguished him as a student soon won 
him prominence at the bar and his influence left its 
mark on the history of the Territor}% where he was suc- 
cessively attorney general and United States attorney. 

[45] 



Memokial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

At that time a thorough knowledge of the Spanish lan- 
guage was necessary to the practice of law in Now Mexico 
and this knowledge he quickly acquired, and in after 
life one of the greatest pleasures was to meet some one 
with whom he could converse in that language. 

In 1873 he was elected as Territorial Delegate in Con- 
gress from New Mexico and reelected in 1875, notwith- 
standing his declination to seek a second term and the 
fact that at the time of his last election he was ahsent 
from the Territory. At this period his efforts to secure 
the admission of New Mexico as a State called general 
attention to the Territory's great natural resources, and 
in one of his speeches on this suhject Senator Elkins 
gave evidence of those brilliant qualities that were des- 
tined to carry him to the front rank of American 
statesmen. 

Shortly after the end of his term as Delegate Senator 
Elkins moved to my State, West Virginia, and began to 
exercise that remarkable talent for business of which he 
iiad already shown signs before leaving New Mexict). 
His business activities were all directed along the line 
of the develoiJinent of the resources of his adopted State, 
and it was largely due to his elforts that the vast natural 
resources of West Virginia became known. His activi- 
ties gave employment to tliousands, and his Iri'atnu'nl 
of labor was always such as to win its earnest friendship. 
Although occupied with his enormous business interests 
he always found time to take an active interest in the 
public alVairs of Stale ami Nation, and in [\\v j)i-esi(ien- 
tial campaign of 1884 was a membir of the Republican 
nalional conuniltee. On December 17, 1891, President 
Benjamin Harrison called him to his ('abinel as Sicri>- 
lary of War, and in his achninislralion of the duties of 
that |)()sili()n he added to his ah'i'ady en\iabK' rej)utali()n 
as a pnbhe servant. 

[46] 



Address of Mr. Hughes, of West Virc.inia 

In January, 1895, I had the honor of presenting him to 
the joint legislature after he was elected to the United 
States Senate by the West Virginia Legislature, and was 
twice reelected, being the only West Virginian thus hon- 
ored by three elections to the Senate. 

He was especially equipped to deal witli questions 
affecting the business interests of the country, and dur- 
ing his long service in the Senate his name was con- 
nected with many acts of legislation of vital importance. 
His statesmanship was constructive and his mind gave 
forth sound and original ideas. The weight of his in- 
fluence was always for the sane, the safe, and the whole- 
some in public life. 

He died in Washington on January 4, 1911, during his 
third term as United States Senator. 

Elkins the lawj^er showed by his fidelity to the inter- 
ests he represented and the ability with which he handled 
his cases that he made no mistake as to his chosen pro- 
fession. Elkins the financier caused the wilderness to 
become habitable, made the mountains to give up the 
riches they concealed, giving to his State a wonderful 
development, always fighting fair, yet always command- 
ing the respect of those with whom he came in contact 
in a business way by his evident ability to take care of 
himself under all circumstances, finally becoming one of 
the leaders of the financial world. Elkins the states- 
man carried into his public life that innate sense of jus- 
tice and fair dealing that always characterized him, and 
he viewed all public questions in a broad and patriotic 
spirit that won the admiration of his associates and the 
Nation. But it was Elkins the man that those who knew 
him loved best. His many beautifully tender qualities 
of mind endeared him beyond measure to his friends, 
and to have known him intimately was indeed a great 
privilege. 

[47] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Elkins 



West Virginians loved Stephen B. Elkins and West 
Virginia was proud of his achievements, and when for 
him, surrounded by sorrowing loved ones, came the sun- 
set of life and " the evening star and the one clear call " 
he put out on that unknown sea with a feeling that in this 
life he had " acted well his part." 



[48] 



Address of Mr. Davis, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: It is written: 

Man must endure his going hence even as his coming hitlicr, 
ripeness is all. 

On the 4th day of January', 191 1, Stephen B. Elkins 
went, as must all mortal men, back upon the path by 
which he came, back to the great unknown. In every 
such announcement there is a solemnity, which comes 
not alone from the severing of the ties of love and friend- 
ship, not alone from a sense of personal or public grief 
and loss, but also from the knowledge it imports that the 
book of another life has been closed and another account 
made up forever. At such times we may with propriety 
assemble to record our grief at the separation and to 
enter upon record the salient facts of the ended life. 

Such, Mr. Speaker, is the purpose of this occasion. 
Others have spoken, or will speak, of the details of Sen- 
ator Elkins's life's histor3^ To those whose good for- 
tune it was to know him better than did I must be left 
the intimacies of his personal life and conversation, and 
in better form, no doubt, by others, a summary' of his 
public achievements will be given. But I desire to record 
a brief mention of those characteristics which, to the 
world, stood out most strongly in the man and wliich 
most contributed to his remarkable career. 

And his career was one truly remarkable, whether from 
the standpoint of results obtained or of the broad field 
of activity it covered. Soldier, la^\yer, banker, business 
man, railroad executive, political leader, attorney gen- 
eral of the Territory of New Mexico and United States 

87°— 12 4 [49] 



Ml-Mohial Addhessks: Sknator Elkixs 

district attorney for tlie same Territory, Delegate to Con- 
gress, Secretar}'^ of War, Senator of the United States — 
all these and more he was, and in all his powerful talents 
and natural gifts made himself i)reeminent. No man can 
point with certainty to the hidden springs from which 
flow the actions and the life work of his fellows, and only 
the holdest will assume to catalogue all the gifts with 
which another is endowed. But some of the reasons for 
the power of this man are easily discernihle. 

First of all, he was in physique a favored child of 
nature. When he became Secretary of War in 1892 
there was written of him a description which might stand, 
without amendment, to the day of his last illness. It may 
be entered here as follows: 

He is one of the biggest men I have ever known. .Standing 
over G feet in his stockings, his broad shouhiers arc \\v\l padded 
witli muscular flesh, and his Ijig arms make you think of tliose 
of Samson, and his legs are firm and strong. lie is not fat, 
but liis massive frame has no angles, and he is the jn-rsonifica- 
tion of energetic liealth. He lias a great big round head, which 
is fastened to his broad slioulders by a big, well-made neck. His 
clear blue eyes look out froin under broad, open brows. He has 
a strong jaw, but there are pleasant lines about his mouth, and 
his short, strong, white teeth are often shown when he laughs. 
His hair is now white; it is cut short, and you can set' tlie rosy 
scalp showing through its frosted silver strands. Secretary 
l-'i, kiss's face is smooth shaven, and its mobility is shown in the 
change of exjjressions wliicli i)ass ovir it as iiis thou.yht turns 
from grave to gay as he talks. His face imjjresses you with its 
cleanliness, and his words are as clean as his skin. He never 
uses slang or profaiiilx, and he once told me lluil he had never, 
in all his life, uttered a word which he would be ashaiiud to 
rejjeat in the i)riscnce of the purest woman he knew. 

^^'illlill this p()\\( rliil Ironic lln it \\;is imphinlrd a 
keen ;iii(l (list rimiii;i ling iiilcllcci, to which he nthhd a 
lii-clfss iiithislry. lie shr;iiik from no [;isk ;is being Ih;- 
Ndiid cilhtr his |)hysic;il or menial powci's, and when in 



[50] 



Address of Mr. Davis, of West Virginia 

President Harrison's Cabinet it was said of him in com- 
parison with his confreres that — 

The man capable of the greatest amount of work is filling an 
office where the least is to be done. 

The statement was accurate in so far as his capacity 
for labor was concerned. But in that office, and in all 
others, he proved that only those who shrink from labor 
complain that the opportunity for it is denied. One 
might believe that he took as his life motto the lines: 

No man is born into the world whose work 

Is not born with him; there is always work 

To do and tools to work withal for those who will, 

And blessed are the horny hands of toil. 

The busy world shoves angrily aside 

The man who stands with arms akimbo set 

Lentil occasion tells him what to do. 

And he who waits to have his task marked out 

Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled. 

His intellect and energy were guided by a courageous 
determination which never wavered from a goal once 
fixed upon and was never more steady than at the very 
time when it might seem to yield. He was a past master 
of the art of conciliation and of compromise, and knew 
how, with consummate tact, to harmonize conflicting 
interests among his followers and associates and weld 
them all into a compact and efficient body, subservient 
to his purpose. Perhaps no man of his time in public 
life possessed to a higher degree the four great gifts of 
intellect, industry, will power, and tact. These it was 
which made of him a born leader of men. No higher 
praise can be or need here be given, for whoever can lead 
his fellows along the path he wishes them to follow, who- 
ever can bend to his use that greatest of all forces, the 
elemental force of human nature, must indeed be great 
himself. 

[51] 



Memorial Addresses : Senator Elkins 

With these endowments it was hut the working out of 
natural law in the spiritual world that he should have 
had an extraordinary capacity for making and for keep- 
ing friends, and it was equally inevitahle that, like all 
strong natures, he should encounter opposition in all the 
spheres of life in which he was engaged. Enemies con- 
fronted him, and lie overcame them; calumny assailed 
him, and he outlived it; envy and malice attacked him, 
and he proudly ignored llu-m. Oltcn did he i)rove that — 

He who ascends to mountain tops shall find 

Their loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds of snow. 
He who surpasses or subdues mankind 

Must look down on the hate of those below. 
Though high above the sun of glory glow, 

And far beneath the earth and ocean spread, 
Around him are icy rocks, and loudly blow 

Contending tempests on his naked head. 

After a long, wasting, and mysterious illness, he ncared 
his end; hut though physically weakened hy the struggle 
his last conscious words were, " 1 do not expect to die." 

It may have been perhaps the dominating will of the 
man still asserting itself; it may have been his defiant 
challenge to the last of earthly foes; but may we not 
equally believe that it was all this and something more — 
a declaration of his belief in the final triumj)!! of the soul 
over (Icalli ilsi'lf. a prophecy evcMi now ruHllKd of an 
immortality assured. May we not share that faith and 
believe that somewhere even now that bold and tireless 
sjjiril is still woi'king oul its (lod-appoinled destiny? 

He is goni'. I have no disiri' to weaken my tiil)iite to 
his nu inoi'v by a niei'e ampiilic;ition ol woids, which lu'. 
of all men, would iiave most (k-eiied. He was a great 
figure in the Slate of West N'irginia and in the Nation. 
A stiong man has laileii; it may be long before another 
conies to till his |)laee. 

[521 



Address of Mr. Mann, of Illinois 

Mr. Speaker: I rise, sir, to express my appreciation of 
Stephen B. Elkins ^Yhile he was alive, my respect for the 
memory of the man and his deeds, my sincere regret at 
his departure from this life, and my profound sympathy 
for the family he left behind. 

It is indeed a melancholy pleasure to pay my sad trib- 
ute to the worth of his deeds. I knew Senator Elkins 
in a legislative capacity. I had contact with him in the 
construction of some of the great legislation wliich has 
been enacted in recent years in relation to railroads. 
For a time there was a strong feeling in the countrj^ that 
the railroads needed additional control, that preferences 
were being granted by them to great shippers in the way 
of rebates, and in 1903 Senator Elkins introduced into 
the Senate a bill, now enacted into law, called the Elkins 
bill, for the purpose of preventing the granting of rebates 
b}^ railways. I had the honor, by direction of that other 
great statesman, William P. Hepburn, of Iowa, to have 
charge of that bill in the committee and on the floor of 
the House. It brought me somewhat in contact with 
Senator Elkins and gave me an insight into his capacity 
for constructive legislation; but it was in 1910 that I came 
in closer contact with him. The air w^as filled as it were 
with electric excitement concerning the bills to increase 
the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 
the control of railways, their rates, and other matters 
relating to them. 

A bill for that purpose was reported from the com- 
mittee of which I had the honor to be chairman. It 
passed the House, went to the Senate, and came back 

[53] 



Memouial Ai)1)Hi:ssi:s : Sknatoh Klkins 

here witli all after the enacting clause stricken out and a 
new bill inserted. Senator Elkins was chairman of the 
Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce. There were 
striking differences between the bill as it had passed the 
House and the bill as it passed the Senate. 

After some discussion and a decided division of opin- 
ion in the House it was sent to conference. There were 
those who believed that it would be impossible for the 
House and the Senate to come to an agreement. I was 
the chairman of the House conference committee, and 
upon that committee were Representative Wanger and, 
as a minority member, the distinguished gentleman from 
Georgia, Mr. Adamson. On the Senate conference com- 
mittee were Senators Elkins and Aldrich and, as a mi- 
nority member. Senator Newlands, of Nevada. I con- 
fess that at the time I liad grave doubts wliclhcr we would 
be able to agree; I had grave doubts when I entered the 
conference whether the sharp division of opinion might 
not give rise to decided personal dilVerences and eontlicts. 

For several weeks, while llic bill was in conference. 
Senator Elkins and myself were in daily eoniiniinieation. 
We met at the Capitol, we met at his house, we met at 
the White House, we met in various other |)laces, we 
rode and rode, and we sat down and talked and dis- 
cussed. In llie t 11(1 Ihe dilferences in llu' eoiilVirnct' were 
reconciled, a conference report was agreed u|)()ii. adopted 
by both bodies, and the bill became a law. During that 
time wliile we were having these decided dilferences of 
opinion and diseussions. Senator Ij kins was always 
decided hnl good nalnicd. I do not know wliellui" I was 
always good nalnicd. l»nl 1 i)elie\'ed llial I was nsnally 
decided. 

I eanie lo liaxc in llial eoniiei-lion a strong |)ersonal 
alVeclioii lor the work and llie i-Jiarai-ter of Senator 
kj.KiNs. I eanie to know llial he was a constriR'tive 

[54] 



Addhess oi" Mr. Mann, oi Illinois 



statesman. During that same period ol' time when this 
bill was under discussion there w^ere also in conference 
between the two Houses, where Senator Elkins and I 
were conferees, two bills, one relating to the reporting of 
accidents by railroads and the other regarding the stand- 
ardization of safety appliances on railroads. I learned 
that Senator Elkins not only had a profound knowledge 
of the management and operation of railways, but a pro- 
found sympathy for the enginemen, the brakemen, the 
trainmen, and all those who work in connection with the 
operation of railroads. 

Mr. Speaker, I simply wish to say that, in my judg- 
ment, the two laws now upon the statute books bearing 
his name in usual reference to them, the antirebate law 
and the act to strengthen the powers of the Interstate 
Commerce Commission, themselves establish, without 
other evidence, the profound constructive statesmanship 
of this friend of ours who has gone to the other shore. 



[55] 



Address of Mr. Si lzer, of New York 

Mr. Speaker: As a friend lor many years of Senator 
Elkins I come lo-day to place on record my tribute of 
respect to his memory. He was my friend and evidenced 
it in many ways during the time we served together in the 
Congress of the United States. In his unexpected deatli 
the State he represented here so long, so intelligently, and 
so industriously was deprived of one of its foremost citi- 
zens; the Republic lost a loyal and a patriotic public 
servant; his bereaved family a loving husband and an 
indulgent father; and his innumerable friends, from one 
end of the land to the other, a safe counselor, a sagacious 
advocate, and a wise and consistent clianii)i()n. 

One had to know Senator Elkins intimateh'^ to know 
the real true man. He was warm-hearted, broad-minded, 
and tolerant. He was alert in lliouglit and quick in 
speech. He was dignified and sympathetic. He was a 
man who stood high among the constructive slalisnun 
of his time; he lived above the commonplace and sought 
his friends and did his work on llie higher level of pur- 
pose and of intellectuality, of usefulness, and of strict 
integrity. 

He sci'ved his State and his country well, and he served 
in all things Dial were elevating and lasting. The ster- 
ling niaMJiood thai was in him recognized l)()lh the duly 
and llic o|)|)oi-liinily. and liflcd liis sci'vici' into the light 
of laslinn eonipaiiioiislii|) and I lie n a lily of good (•\ani|)l('. 
lie was a diligcnl shidcnl of alVairs, and in all mallirs 
of monicnl lie eai-ciiilly scaiu-hcd I'oi- Ihc Ir'ulh. W'hal he 
said was based uol on impulse bill on siiieire coiivielioii. 



[56] 



Address of Mr. Sulzer, of New York 

There was no forced attempt at brilliancy in his oratory. 
He was a direct man and spoke simply and truly and 
honestly. He was a man of clean thought and of clean 
speech; his inner life was carefully swept and generously 
garnished, so that all could quickly tell what sort of man 
was the distinguished Senator from West Virginia. He 
was an indefatigable worker, and he fell by the wayside 
at the zenith of his public service because strength was 
exhausted and nature demanded her long rest. 

In many ways it can be truly said of Senator Elkins 
that he was a brilliant man, a constructive statesman, 
w^ho took a prominent part in all the great debates of 
his time. He wrote lasting laws on our statute books, 
and by his industrj^ and ability, together with his cour- 
teous manners and his genial ways, won the lifelong 
respect and the lasting admiration of his colleagues and 
his fellow citizens. 

Stephen Benton Elkins was a child of the great West. 
He was born in Perry County, Ohio, September 26, 1841; 
he received his early education in the public schools of 
Missouri and graduated from the university of that State, 
at Columbia, in the class of 1860; he was admitted to the 
bar in 1864, and in the same year went to New Mexico, 
where he acquired a knowledge of the Spanish language 
and began the practice of the law. He was a member of 
the Territorial Legislative Assembly of New Mexico in 
1864 and 1865, and held the olTices of Territorial district 
attorney, attornej' general, and United States district at- 
torney. He was elected to the Forty-third Congress, and 
while abroad was renominated and elected to the Forty- 
fourth Congress. During the time he served in Congress 
he was made a member of the Republican national com- 
mittee, on which he served for three presidential cam- 
paigns. After leaving Congress he moved to \W^st Vir- 
ginia and devoted himself to his business affairs. He 

[57] 



Memohial Ai)I)hi:ssi:s : Senator Klkins 

Nvas appointed Secretary of War December 17, 1891, and 
served until the close of President Harrison's adminis- 
tration. In February', 1894, he was elected to the United 
States Senate to succeed Hon, Johnson X. Camden, and 
was reelected in 1901 by every vote of the Republican 
members of the legislature, giving liini a majority of 40 
on joint ballot. He was again unanimously reelected in 
1907 and served in the Senate until his untimely death. 
Such, in brief, is the brilliant record of S. B. Elkins, and 
it demonstrates anew the hope and [he opportunities of 
the Repuijlic. What a splendid and triumphant career! 
When Senator Elkins passed away, at the summit of 
his congressional life, he had made an enviable record for 
statesmanship and for usefulness, not only for the beneiit 
of his constituents but for the good of the whole country. 
We have missed him much here since his long departure, 
and as the days come and go we who knew him well will 
miss him more and more. The work he did for the people 
will live in the history of his Stale and of his country. 
The good he did will grow brighter and brighter as the 
years pass away until it becomes his lasting monument, 
more enduring than marble or brass and forever sacred 
in the hearts of his grateful countrymen. 

We mourn and sympathize with his beloved family, 
but we find words of comfort and of consolation in his 
noble life, his generous character, his sympathetic nature, 
and the great work he accomplished for his country. His 
deeds of kindness, of eliarily. and of gem-rosily will I'ver 
keej) alive his memoi'y and Ireciuenlly call to reeolleclion 
the glory of his name. 

'I'lu' iiiciii()i\ (if f4<)<i(l (li-i'(is will cvi-r stay, 

A lamp l'» li^ilit "^ "H tl>»' (larkcticd way; 
.\ iiuisic t(t Ihi- lar on claiiioriiif,' slircl, 
\ c-ooIiiiK Nvrll amid tlu- noonday lu-al; 

A scent of grei'ii bouHhs |)l«.wn llirouf^li iiairow walls, 

A feel of |-i'sl wlnii (|uitl tvi-nin^ falls. 

[58] 



Adoress of Mh. SiLZLH, OF Xew Yohk 

Senator Elkins was a true man, a lover of justice, a 
believer in the supremacy of law, a friend of every cause 
that lacked assistance. He stood for eternal principles 
of right, and believed in the opportunity vouchsafed to 
everj'one under the dome of the Union sk3\ He was no 
skeptic, no scoffer, no cynic. He was broad and liberal 
in his views, had charity for all, trusted the people, and 
never lost faith in humanity. He knew the world was 
growing better, and he believed in the greater and the 
grander destinj"^ of his country. 

He hated cant and despised hypocrisy. He had a sun- 
shiny disposition and a forgiving spirit that never har- 
bored revenge. He was a plain, simple man, who loved 
his fellow man. He will live in the hearts of those he left 
behind, and to do this is not to die. He was a great 
worker, and succeeded in accomplishing what he under- 
took to do. He met Napoleon's test — he did things. He 
w^as a true son of our native soil, the friend of the toiler, 
and the eloquent advocate of the oppressed. He tried to 
lift his fellow man up to a higher plane and help him for- 
ward on the highway of progress and of civilization. He 
w^as a fearless man and ever dared to do w hat he thought 
was right regardless of the consequences. He was a faith- 
ful public official, and died in the service of his countr}\ 
His work here is done. His career on earth is finished. 
He has run his course; he kept the faith; he fought the 
good fight; he has reaped his everlasting reward in the 
great beyond, and we, his friends, can all most truly say. 
Well done, thou good and faithful servant of a grateful 
people. 



[59] 



Address of Mr. Littlepage, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: I am here as a Representative of a proud 
people of a great State to raise my voice in proclaiming 
to the people of this Republic that there dwells within 
the Commonwealth of West Virginia a people noted for 
their chivalr}% integrity, loyalty, appreciation, and all 
that goes to constitute character and good citizenship, 
and I feel that I bespeak the sentiments of them all 
when I say that State and this Nation lost a faithful 
friend when United States Senator Stephen B. Elkins 
gave up the fight for the greatest boon in life — that of 
living — and surrendered his spirit to the God of mercy 
and love, and when that great and good spirit took its 
flight over the river of time to that home from which no 
tired and weaiy traveler has ever returned and never 
will; that all who knew him at home and here in Wash- 
ington, the scenes of his great labors for the good of man- 
kind and the upbuilding of this Republic; that the sorrow- 
ful acclaim should properly go up to llial great wliite 
throne, before which we shall all appear sooner or later, 
"Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Since the 
great reaper of the ripe sheaves must gatlier you in so 
early in your useful career, we with one sorrowful accord 
wish you Godspeed to a position on that great wliite 
throne where sorrow is no more, llure to (hvcll in ever- 
lasting peace of mind and joy of heart. 

Senator Elkins was a self-madr man. Slarliiig from 
tlic lowest I'ling on life's ladder, he ascended step by 
stej), by hard work and good judgment, to assume mighty 
responsibilities and to an exalted public |)osition. Be it 
said of him that he was a Re|)nblican, i-esiding ;it I^lkins, 
W. \i\. He was boil) in Pei'i-y ("ounly, Ohio. Sepleniber 
21, 1811, attended schools in Missonii, gi'aduating IVoni 
llie university of that State in ISfiO. lie was a sueicsslul 
lawyer by profession since l<S(il. lie went to the Territory 



[GO] 



Address of Mr. Littlepage, of West Virginia 

of New Mexico, where he acquired a remarkable knowl- 
edge of the Spanish language. He was a member of that 
legislative assembly, 1864-C5. He was also district attor- 
ney, attorney general, and United States district attorney 
of that Territor}% elected to the Forty-third Congress and 
reelected to the Forty-fourth Congress, and a member of 
the Republican national committee during three presi- 
dential campaigns. He moved to West Virginia, and be- 
came Secretary of War in 1891, and as such a member of 
President Harrison's Cabinet. He was elected to the 
United States Senate from West Virginia in 1894, defeat- 
ing Hon. Johnson N. Camden, a Democrat; reelected in 
1901 to the United States Senate, and was still a United 
States Senator from that State at the time of his death in 
January, 1911. 

Thus we see another important example of a young 
man having a fixed purpose in life and bending every 
energy to the accomplishment of that end; patient, loyal, 
energetic, and true all the time, starting in life without 
means, friends, or influence, he attained wonderful suc- 
cess in his profession, business, and political life; start- 
ing an humble country boy, he ran out his life's course 
and died in the Senate of the United States, where he 
exerted great influence and had much to do with shaping 
the destiny of the Republic he loved so well. 

We are assembled here in the Capitol of this Nation to 
pay a last and farewell tribute to the memory of one of 
my State's favorite sons. My heart is full of sympathy 
for his bereaved ones left behind, but they should be con- 
soled by the fact that a great chieftain, in passing from 
this stage of action to a better world, has left as their 
heritage a stainless official record, worthy of emulation 
by country-loving and country-serving men placed in offi- 
cial positions by the suff'rage of a grateful people, who are 
ever ready, regardless of politics, to appreciate ofiicial 



[61] 



Mk.mohiai. Addresses: Senator Klkins 

integrity, love of country, and those great characteristics 
so wonderfully possessed by Senator Elkins. 

He was a developer of men and country. My State, that 
of his adoption, has important railroads, coal i)roperties, 
timber plants, and other public utilities now blossoming 
and of great value to our Commonwealth, all the result of 
the handiwork, cnerg}% and sacrifices of our dead Senator. 

We differed in politics, but he was a most lovable char- 
acter, and, above all, he was true to his friends, a thor- 
oughly grateful man, the latter being the noblest charac- 
teristic possessed by mankind. He remembered long and 
faithfully an act of kindness, as was shown by his devo- 
tion, sacrifices, the expenditure of his means, and the 
taxation of his mental energies to have parthnu'd the 
Younger jjoys, who saved his life when he was a young 
man. When I read an account of this, and understood 
the motives that j)rompted his action, 1 was ever after- 
wards his personal friend and admirer. 

One by one the great men have fallen and gone to their 
everhisting reward as time and the ages roll by. Wc scat- 
ter the flowers of memory over the tombs in passing. Let 
us look to a future, remembering, as we go by, that to so 
live in the sight of (iod as to command the respect and con- 
fidence ol" mankind shoiihl be the anibilion of us all. Siiia- 
tor Ki.KiNs has gone, but his uieinoi'v will dwi 11 in and 
with the hist(U'y of my Slate and this Nation in (.rniorc-. 

Peace and good will to his memory. When llu- human 
harps of the nations of the earth shall sing out in alter 
years in aeelaini the songs of llu' memory ol great nun 
of llic past ages, none shall i)e more sweetly enjoyed by 
the peoj)le of the .Vmeriean nepublic than the one of the 
life, hd)oi's, sacrifices, and good deeds dl I'niled Slali'S 
St iial(»r Sii I'lii \ H. l".i i^i\s. dl West N'iiginia. 

Ml". Dwis ol Wtsl X'iiginia assumed the ihaii- as 
Speaki T |)i<» |( injxire. 

[62] 



Address of Mr. Brown, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: A niighh' oak has fallen, and its many 
tendrils and branches had so interlaced and entwined 
themselves among its lesser neighbors that a rude and 
unfilled opening has been left among its fellows. It is 
so with the death of Senator Elkins. While the Na- 
tion mourns him and while his death left a vacancy pecu- 
liarly hard to fill, in this, that not only did Senator Elkins 
possess all the faculties of a great statesman, but along 
with those he enjoyed the peculiar faculties of a business 
man familiar with the laws of commerce and our indus- 
trial interests. Few men combined these rare gifts in so 
high and comprehensive a degree. Not only a trained 
lawyer by profession, he was a pioneer of industr3% a 
builder of railroads, familiar with all conditions of trade 
and manufacture. As a fearless explorer of undeveloped 
fields of mineral wealth he brought the hidden treasures 
of earth and emptied them into the lap of civilization, to 
be used for the comfort and happiness of his fellow men. 
He was a classic scholar, a tireless and accomplished stu- 
dent of political economy, and an historian who read his- 
tory not as a pastime, but as a student who drew from it 
practical lessons of civil government. He was a field mar- 
shal in all branches of industry, and an honest, energetic 
champion of civil government and the rights of the people. 
His loss will be greatest felt by those who had a personal 
acquaintance with him and who came in close touch with 
him in business and social affairs. While he was a na- 
tional character and belongs to the Nation, he was held 
to the people of West Virginia by the strongest of home 
ties. While a man of large means, he did not hide his 
light under a bushel, but used it in dcveloi)ing that rapid 
and growing Commonwealth which honored him by 

[63] 



Mkmohial Addkessks : Senatok Elkins 

making him its representative in the Senate, and which 
he so well represented and honored in return. In West 
Virginia his name was identified with exery prominent 
development. 

With Senator Camden and Senator Henry G. Davis he 
learned that hy devcloj)ing his own country' and hy huild- 
ing railroads into the trackless forests and penetrating 
its rich coal fields he not only enriched himself and 
hrought wealth and prosperity to its local citizens, hut 
remunerative employment to hundreds of its people, 
which, in the end, is the true source of all greatness and 
wealth in every State. In this way he hrought hlessings 
to countless homes and hccame one of the greatest pul)lic 
henefactors in the State of his adoption. While he will 
be mourned by his friends at the National Capital and the 
men of prominence throughout the Nation, the tear- 
dimmed eye of the miner in the solemn stillness of his 
humljle home will no less testify to the love, esteem, and 
high regard in which he was held by them. Senator 
Elkins was great in big and great as well in the small 
things that go to make life worth living to all. But it was 
as a leader of men that he stood preeminent. His organi- 
zation, both in politics and business, was perfect. It was 
for him to direct, for those under him to execute. In all 
his organizations, both political and iiuluslrial. he kiu'W 
well his generals as well as those who stood in the hum- 
bler ranks. They were all executive ollicers to him. To 
them he gave courtesy, consideration, and fair treatment, 
bill lioni lliein he expeclt'd liiilhl'iil and i-\aetiiig service. 
Xaj)ole()ii never stood at the head of a heller niililary 
organizalion. No one could fall short of the recjuiremenls 
expec-led ;ind long hold his position. No one dai-e jjileh 
his lent at the loot ol a sli-alegie ele\alion wlun he was 
e\|)eete(| to oi'eu|)y the snniniit. lie w;is ;i ni;in of sleiMi- 
ness ;iii(l !Jle;it e\;ietness, but identic and ixind to liis 



:c4] 



Address of Mr. Brown, of West Virginia 

friends, and while, as I said before, the Nation has lost 
a splendid leader, the State of West Virginia, as a Com- 
monwealth, has met with a still greater loss. In it every 
true cause has lost a champion and everj-^ good man a 
friend. Senator Elkins was a man who believed in doing 
things, not saying things. His life was made up of acts, 
not words. A man gifted by nature with a splendid mind 
enshrined in a body of magnificent physical development, 
and he gave them all to his countr>^'s service. He was an 
untiring worker, a zealous advocate of every cause in 
which he enlisted, a man who believed whatever was 
worth doing was worth doing well. In his political and 
professional life he endeavored to be prepared for all 
emergencies. He was seldom surprised. He studied well 
the avenues of life he intended to follow before entering 
upon them. The road was always carefully laid out be- 
forehand and the weak places fortified, the streams 
bridged before he came to them, and the right course 
mapped out and the proper finger boards selected before 
the crossroads of life were reached. He possessed in an 
exalted degree two combinations rarely found in the same 
human mind — a highly educated, well-trained intellect, 
combined with that greatest of all natural gifts, common 
sense. In his political and business career he followed 
no false lights. All finespun theories, when refined from 
their dross by his analytical mind, produced only prac- 
tical results. Few men could so well reject the false 
premises and accept the true as Hon. Stephen B. Elkins, 
and while some minds may have penetrated farther into 
certain subjects, seldom was there found a man who knew 
so many things so well. 



87°-12 5 [65] 



Address of Mr. Hamilton, of West Virginia 

Mr. Speaker: One year after the death of an eminent 
American citizen, this House is assembled in solemn ses- 
sion to pay a tribute to his memor}% and by that which 
has been already said we are reminded that the loss sus- 
tained by his departure is not confined to the State which 
he represented in the Congress of the Nation. While 
Stephen B. Elkins was a native of Ohio, and at tlie time 
of his death was a resident of the State of West Virginia 
and one of her representatives in the Senate of the United 
States, his field of work during his life was confined to 
no single State or Territory', but in its scope took in the 
Nation. 

As Delegate in Congress from the Territorj^ of New 
Mexico, as Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President 
Harrison, and as a Senator from West Virginia his public 
service extended over a period of nearly 10 years, and 
when his last illness struck him he was the recognized 
leader, especially in matters pertaining to the great com- 
mercial and business legislation of the country, in the 
Senate of the United States. 

In the field of politics he was a giant, and in many 
r('si)ects conij)arable to the renowiu-d Richard Neville, 
Karl of Warwick, who in English history has been slyled 
tlic " Setter-up and puller-down " of kings. On inori' than 
one oc-casioii the inniiciiec of Scnatoi" Fj.kins was c-oiili'ol- 
liiig in the national conventions of his party, and for 10 
years or more with iiiKiucslioncd siipi'cinac v lir held the 
reins which j^iiidcd (lie chariot oi the doininaiil political 
parly of West Viigiiiia. 



[GGj 



Address of Mr. Hamilton, of West Virginia 

He married the daughter of the Hon. Henry Gassaway 
Davis, now a distinguished ex-Senator of the United 
States, and who in a recent campaign was the candidate 
of his party for the Vice Presidency of the Nation, and 
who full of years of usefulness and honor survives his 
illustrious son-in-law, and is to-day held in the highest 
estimation not only in his own State but throughout this 
great country. 

Upon the death of Mr. Elkins he was succeeded in the 
Senate by his son Davis Elkins, and it may thus be seen 
that there was practically three generations of Senators 
in the same family. Not only is this true, but a son of 
Mr. Elkins intermarried with a daughter of John E. 
Kenna, another distinguished Senator of West Virginia, 
whose illustrious services to his country and to his State 
were such as to cause a sculptured perpetuation of his 
appearance in life to be set up in that part of this Capitol 
Building devoted to the commemoration of the great men 
of the Nation. 

In a republican government like ours this close connec- 
tion and relationship between distinguished citizens can 
not arise from hereditary causes as in other lands, but 
when it is found to exist, or to have existed, it must be 
in consequence of the individual merits of the persons 
who have attained the eminence. 

However, Mr. Speaker, the great esteem in which the 
memory of Mr. Elkins is held in West Virginia and in 
other States depends not alone upon his public career in 
the Cabinet and in the Congress. Aside from his services 
as a statesman he was a great public benefactor; and 
through his instrumentality and untiring energy and that 
of his distinguished father-in-law, who was associated 
with him in many business transactions, the native re- 
sources of his State were largely developed and thrown 
open to the world. Railroads were built, mines were 

[67] 



Memorial Addhessks: Senator Elkins 

opened, great enterprises pushed forward and advanced, 
and in various sections where before that time little or no 
development had been made there was opened, through 
the ceaseless efl'orts of these men, a record of enterprise 
and progress, the final chapters of wliich will not be writ- 
ten for many years to come. 

Mr. Elkins was possessed with a fine sense of humor 
wliich he often brought to bear in public matters and 
^\hich, no doubt, many times has tided him over the 
shoals which frequently confront a man in public life. 
In the campaign of 1904 the political situation in West 
Virginia was in an unsettled condition for several months, 
and it looked as if there might be a great shaking up of 
l)olitical conditions then existing. There was a universal 
demand from the Democrats of the State that ex-Senator 
Davis should be their candidate for governor; and, in 
fact, this desire was evidenced also by many of the lead- 
ing Republicans of the Slate. It was sui)posed that if he 
should accept the nomination for that olhce that the pow- 
ei I'lil influence of his distinguished son-in-law would be 
exercised either in his active support or rendered nuga- 
tory' as an opposing force. But before the Democratic 
State convention was held Mr. Davis was named by the 
national convention of the Democracy as the candidate 
of that party for the Vice Presidency. .\ day or two after 
the nomination of Mr. Davis for that high ollice the Re- 
j)iiblicaii State convention of West Virginia assembled in 
the city ol Wheeling, in |)erhaps as stormy a conviiition 
as has been luld w ilhiii thai Stall'. Mr. Elkins was made 
temporary chairman thereof, and in his s|)eoch deiivirfd 
as a kcviiolc of the cami)aign he referred to liie many 
niiiiors dial be woiihl have supported Mr. Davis had he 
beeoiiie a eandidalc loi- ^oNCfnor and (hat Ik wonld snp- 
|)orl the electoi'al ticket n|)on which he was Ihen a caniU- 
d.itc loi- (he X'iee Presidenev. lie laeelioiisly icni.irked 

[C8j 



Address of Mr. Hamilton, of Wfst Virgima 

that he had, indeed, been in a dilemma prior to the as- 
sembling of the Democratic national convention, while 
Mr. Davis was being talked of and urged to be a candi- 
date for governor, but that the Democratic Party, which, 
in his opinion, could at all times be relied upon to do the 
wrong thing at the right time, had relieved him from the 
difficulty, and that when the party had failed to recognize 
the eminent ability and statesmanship of his father-in- 
law and to reward the same by placing him at the head 
of the national ticket and not at the tail thereof, he 
thought that there was nothing else for him to do but to 
continue in the support of the Republican Party, which 
through him had conferred such distinguished honors 
upon the family. He could not support a party which had 
cast such reflection upon his father-in-law. 

Mr. Speaker, I was not intimately acquainted with Mr. 
Elkins in a personal way, and have met him but very 
few times. For that reason I am not as w^ell prepared to 
speak of him as others w^ho are upon this floor for that 
purpose. However, the Hon. George W. Atkinson, now a 
judge of one of the Federal courts, an ex-Member of this 
body, and a former governor of the State of West Vir- 
ginia, has been for many years the warm personal and 
political friend of the deceased Senator, and at the time 
of his death, or a few days thereafter, pronounced an 
eloquent eulog}'^ upon the life and character of his de- 
parted comrade. As Gov. Atkinson can not be heard upon 
this floor under the rules of the House — and I am glad to 
see that he is present here to-day — at my request he has 
allowed me to use in connection with my remarks the 
tribute which he prepared, and I send the same to the 
Clerk's desk to be read in connection with what I have 
to say. 



[60] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

The Clerk read as follows: 

"a tall cedar has fallkx and many hearts are sad." 

Senator Elkins is no more. He has gone from the throng of the 
living to mingle Nvilh the millions that have gone hcfore. ^Vhen a 
king is dethroned his subjects rejoice, but when a great man dies 
the people mourn. A tall cedar has fallen, and gloom pervades not 
only the State of West Virginia, but the Nation as well, because his 
fame was Nation-wide. His sun went down soon after it reached 
the zenith and began receding toward the west. When it settled 
beyond our visions, darkness fell upon thousands of devoted and 
admiring friends. It was God's will, not ours, that his sun should 
set before due evening tide h'ad come. He could not prevent its 
setting, nor could his friends prevent it. All we could do was to 
stand and watch and wait. We stood until the light went out, 
while he met the issue as only the strong and brave and great 
could do. We believe a new and brighter sun arose beyond the 
setting of his earthly life. W^e believe that death does not end all. 

Some men flower early; others late. Senator Elkins was a 
noted man in early life, and was scarcely at his best when the final 
summons came. He was just in the early afternoon of life and 
was best qualified to grapple with its sternest problems and be the 
most useful to his fellow men. Man proposes, but God disposes. 
We make our plans, but they are not always for the best, and a 
wise Providence often overrules them. We may wonder why, but 
that is not for us to know. It is enough for us to know that there 
is a God supreme, and that all of us should bow submissively to 
His will. The way is often dark. It is dark to-day to some of us. 
The pall hangs heavily over the dead statesman's household, but 
God willed it thus, and all should bow reverently to His decree. 
When the golden bowl is broken and the silver cord is loosened, 
we i)ause, we wonder, and we weep. We drop our tears. We pour 
out (iiir syiiipatliies. Hut tears and sympathies only aggravate the 
wounds, unless out of the surrounding darkness we can by faith 
in the unseen believe God's sunshine will some day drive away 
these clouds. 

Just how much life means words refuse to tell, because they 
can not. The doorway of life is hung about with llowery iin- 
hlciiis to inilicalf that it is for a purpose in the great Cnator's 
plans for llic goveiiiimiit of His su!)Jerls. l-il'e may be grand. 



[70] 



Eulogy by Jidge Atkinson 



God intended it to be glorious. So He paved its courts with 
diamonds, fringed its banks with flowers, and overarched it 
with stars. Around it he spread the physical universe — suns, 
moons, worlds, constellations — sublime in magnitude and grand 
in order and obedience. In this strange, this wonderful thing 
called life, every man, every woman, has his and her place. 
Some lay their life work down early, others late; but sooner or 
later all must surrender their trusts to God, the Creator of us all. 

I have long been persuaded that nothing abides save God and 
the soul. There is nothing enduring in this world except the 
Creator and His laws. The stars that shone upon our cradles 
will shine upon our graves. Darkness is closing over the careers 
of Solon and Lycurgus. The hills that once echoed the eloquence 
of Pericles are now unknown. The groves in which Plato and 
Socrates prepared their philosophies have been razed to earth. 
The ancient, grand temples that were intended to immortalize the 
names of their builders have nearly all been gnawed asunder by 
the teeth of time; but God and His laws yet remain and are taking 
a stronger and still greater grip upon the nations as the years 
roll on. 

This is the lesson that comes to us by the passing of the patriot 
and statesman whose life I am now briefly reviewing. What is 
life? Tell us, friends from the high abode of death, what is life? 
We ask this question, and no answer comes as we watch and wait. 
But if life on the earth contributes to the life of the soul, we have 
the comforting assurance that all is well. If the soul fills well the 
place assigned to it on the earth, discharges its duties faithfully, 
obeys the commands of its Creator, and helps others on in life, 
that one is a true child of the King. To one like this, death, how- 
ever sudden, however shocking in its conditions and surround- 
ings, can bring no fear, no sorrowful forebodings. 

I believe firmly that death does not end all. The first and fore- 
most poet of the Bible — if not, indeed, the foremost poet of all 
the centuries — when his heart was bleeding, as ours are to-day, 
by inspiration wrote for all the ages and for the consolation of 
the nations that when a man dies he shall live again. Senator 
Elkins often told me he accepted this great truth and reverently 
believed it. Here, then, we find a balm for these bleeding wounds 
and " that earth hath no sorrow that Heaven can not heal." 

When we buried Senator Elkins at the place of his choosing, 
it was, as I have already said, a sad day for the State of West 

[71] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Klkins 

Virginia; but tlicre was never a cloud so black that it did not 
have a silver lining. Our friend and brother, whose remains 
we have covered with " the clods of the valley," was a man of 
faith in liis Creator, which was sufficiently abiding to illumine 
his soul when he reached the river which all of us must some day 
cross. Not given to loud professions or vain boastings of religious 
experience, yet deep down in his heart was a well of love and 
trust, which was constant in its flow toward tlie Savior of man- 
kind. During all his life he exemplified tlie human side of reli- 
gion by doing what he believed to be right. In this respect his 
faith was fixed. His purposes were strong. His devotion to duty 
and to the unseen was as im faltering as the stars. There is noth- 
ing more to be admired in tliis life than a manly man. His con- 
stant purpose was to lift all persons with whom he associated to 
higher conceptions of life and duty. He was a brave man also. 
He had the courage of his convictions. He was a dangerous 
antagonist not only because of his vast intellectual attainments 
but because he could not be induced to compromise his principles 
or his convictions of duty. 

His personal character was as spotless as a maiden's and as 
unsullied as a ray of light. He was never on both sides of a propo- 
sition at the same time. His niake-ui) was too ijronoinu'ud for 
anything like that. Living, he asked no compromise with those 
who opposed him; dead, there will be no utterances of him except 
tliose that ai'e good. Sucli men always leave thcii- impi-ess ujxm 
tlie times in which they live. Such men will he missed, because 
their jjlaces will be difficult to fill. 

.Senator I-Ii.kins is entitled to more credit tlian most men \\ iio 
achieve ilislinction in life, because he was self-made. He was the 
sole architect of his great career. He had the slick-to-itiveness 
to work his wax tiirough the I'liivirsitN of Missouri, because he, 
although then a mere youtii, saw tlie necessity of a college educa- 
tion if he hojx'd to reach distinction among his fellows. Next, he 
served his counlry as a soldier in llic \\';ir of liic HilKJlion; then 
he became a lawyer and located in the then Territory of New 
Mexicr) for the |)racli<e of his ])rofession. Shortly thereafter he 
became its :dlorne\ gi-neral, liuii its I'nilitl States allornex , and 
next, for the teiin of four years, its Dilegale to C.ongress. In all 
of these positions he disi)Iaye(l imusual ability, which Ud Iiiin on 
to still greater iichiev eintiils. In his laily manhood he came to 
^Vesl Vii-gini;i and riigjigcd in vast business eiitei-prises, wliieli in 



[72] 



Eulogy by Jtdge Atkinson 



two or three decades made him, perhaps, the wealthiest man in 
the State. He, in connection with his honored father-in-law, the 
Hon. Henry G. Davis, constructed railroads, opened coal mines, 
built sawmills, established banking institutions, founded towns 
and cities, and have made the then new Commonwealth now liter- 
ally blossom as the rose. Largely because of their enterprise and 
foresight. West Virginia is now the second State in the Union in 
the production of both coal and coke. Senator Elkins and ex- 
Senator H. G. Davis and J. N. Camden must always be recognized 
as West Virginia's greatest developers. 

Although Senator Elkins served honorably as Secretary of War 
in the Cabinet of President Harrison, and although he succeeded 
phenomenally in business, and indeed in everything he touched, 
his enduring fame will rest mainly upon his record as a Senator 
in Congress of the United States. Throughout the w^hole of his 16 
years' service in that distinguished body his footprints can be 
traced in most of the important laws that were passed. Others 
outranked him in flowery utterances on the floor of that delibera- 
tive assembly, but few, if any, were superior to him in debate, 
and none were more effective in securing important legislation. 
He was big in body and brain, and was the friend of all his asso- 
ciates and the enemy of none. He was respected by all who knew 
him and was loved by all. Charming in his ways and manners, 
every acquaintance became a friend, and every friend deplores 
his death. He was also a devoted husband and a loving father, and 
his seeming untimely departure has left " an aching void " which 
can only be filled by the Scriptural promise : " My presence shall 
go with thee and I wull give thee rest." 

His funeral was held in the city of Elkins, which was named in 
his honor. All business of every kind was suspended. The citi- 
zens turned out en masse and his numerous friends and neighbors 
threw upon his bier flowers of gratitude and love. 
So the watching is ended at home; 
Yet a whisper of peace 
Bids the flowing tears cease. 
For to wait and to toil — yea, to toil and to wait. 
Is Earth's passport to rest within Heaven's fair gate. 

The sun of this great citizen has forever set behind the horizon 
of our view, but the memory of his just, virtuous, and upright life 
will linger as a beautiful twilight in the memories of all who knew 
him. " Peace to his ashes; rest to his soul." 



[73] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

Mr. Hamilton of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, it is true, 
as stated in the address just read, that " a tall cedar has 
fallen and many hearts are sad," j'et upon this occasion 
it is well for us to call to memory' and reflection the often- 
times neglected and ignored fact that all mankind is mor- 
tal. The great destroyer of the visible part of man, which 
we call death, recognizes neither rank nor condition in 
his victims. The feeble and tlie strong, the foolish and the 
wise, the lowly and the high, the peasant and the king, 
the young man and the sage, must all alike follow at the 
beckoning of the hand of that last conqueror, whose em- 
blem is the scythe, whose empire is the world, and the 
period of whose dominion is from the beginning to the 
end. To the universal sway of this monarch of the cen- 
turies Senator Elkins could be no exception. It is true 
that he had not quite reached the allotted three score 
years and ten, but life may be measured by deeds 
achieved as well as by the lapse of time; and when his 
children and friends review the earthly career of this 
able man, along the course of which stand many monu- 
ments to mark his noble deeds, they may rest in happy 
reflection upon the knowledge that through him much 
for good has been accomplished. 

Mr. Hr(. iiES of West Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I regret ex- 
ceedingly that illness prevents the attendance here to-day 
of Speaker Clark. It was his intention to be here. Hav- 
ing been a resident of West Virginia himself, and Sena- 
tor Elkins having been a resident of Missouri, llu y were 
great personal friends. 

I also wish to s|)eak of the absence to-day, on account 
of illness, of (lie lion. .lohn W. Laiii^ley, ol" Kenlneky; and 
he wishes nie to sl;itc that he will take adNaiitaLje ol llie 
j)riNih'ge whieli has been j^ranted and snhniit rtinnrks in 
the Hecord. 



[74] 



Proceedings in the House 



The Speaker pro tempore (Mr, Brown). In accordance 
with the resolution heretofore adopted and as a further 
mark of respect to the memory of the late Senator Ei.kins 
the House will stand adjourned. 

Accordingly (at 1 o'clock and 27 minutes p. m.) the 
House adjourned until to-morrow% Monday, January 8, 
1912, at 12 o'clock m. 



[75] 



Address of Mr, Clark, of Missouri 

Mr. Speaker: Stephen Benton Elkins was named for 
the greatest of" all Missouri statesmen — one of the greatest 
of American statesmen — Col. Thomas Hart Benton, tlie 
first man to serve 30 consecutive j'ears in the Senate of 
the United States. 

Senator Elkins once lived in Missouri, and I once lived 
in. West Virginia. 

By reason of the foregoing facts it was easy for us to 
become good personal friends as soon as we became 
acquainted. 

It is a peculiar and interesting historical fact tliat two 
governors of West Virginia — Jacob and McCorkle — and 
three of her United States Senators — Hereford, Kcnna, 
and Elkins — were at some period of their lives citizens 
of Missouri. They honored both States and both States 
are proud of them. 

Usually the migration of our people has been from East 
to West, but there are exceptions to all rules, and within 
the last 10 3'ears many persons have moved from West 
to East. 

Senator Elkins, born in Ohio, was educated in Missouri, 
and entered the Army from that imperial Commonwealth. 
He won his first distinction in New Mexico, achieving 
many honors, chiif of w liicli was that of being a Delegate 
in Congress from thai Territory. 

lie is one of the Ncrv few nun in our history wlio has 
hrcn scnl lo Congress fi'oin two Slates or Territories. 
Only two have been elected by tiiree Stales and TiM'ri- 
tories — Gen. James Shields was Scnatoi" from Illinois 
f) ycai's, I'loni Minncsohi 2 yeai's, and from Missouii 39 
days. \\liil<' M.itiuw Lyon f(|)r(senlr(l NciinonI in llie 

[70] 



Address of Mr. Clark, of Missofri 



House 4 years, Kentucky 8 years, and was elected a Dele- 
gate from the Territory of Arkansas, dying, however, 
before taking his seat. 

Senator Elkins succeeded to a remarkable degree in 
two fields of human endeavor where competition is al- 
ways sharp, sometimes pitiless — politics and business. 
Thus his extraordinary talents and energies were divided. 
There is an old saving that the law is a jealous mistress; 
so are politics and business. The chances are that had 
he concentrated his ambitions and his energies in one 
field or the other he would have risen higher in the one 
selected than he did in both. While he laid the founda- 
tion of his business and political careers as a la\\^^er, he 
ceased to practice so early in life that his success in busi- 
ness and politics has to a large extent overshadowed his 
fame as a law^^er. Had he continued at the bar there is 
no doubt he would have attained highest rank, as, indeed, 
his splendid talents and immense energies would have 
insured him a high place in any profession. He per- 
formed with signal ability the duties of every office he 
ever held, whether Delegate in Congress, Cabinet min- 
ister, or Senator of the United States. His tact, ability, 
and industry advanced him to one of the highest and most 
conspicuous positions in the Senate. 

Death cut short his career when his powers were unim- 
paired. His whole character may be summed up in the 
old Latin sentence : " Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re." 

"After life's fitful fever he sleeps well.'* 



[77] 



Address of Mr. Langley, of Kentucky 

Mr. Speaker: How honorable is death and Iionv little 
to be feared, when it comes at the end of a glorious career. 
We meet to-day to pay the last tribute of respect to the 
memory of Stephen Benton Elkins, a Senator from West 
Virginia. 

My acquaintance with him began in 1888, when as a 
delegate to the National Republican Convention 1 met in 
conference with him and others who wanted to see nomi- 
nated for President " the plumed knight " of Republican- 
ism — James G. Blaine. Mr. Elkins was then in the high 
meridian of fame. He was a strong Blaine man, but 
was likewise held in highest esteem by President Harri- 
son, and did as much as any other man in the United 
States to make successful the Harrison administration. 

For many years after this my duties in public oflicc at 
Washington threw me more and more into personal con- 
tact with Senator Elkins, and our ac(iuaintancc grow 
much closer, and as time rolled on 1 learned to esteem 
still more higlily liis regard and personal friendship. No 
words of praise that 1 can utter at this time can in any 
sense measure the affection 1 had for him — yea, that we 
;ill hat! — nor portray adequately the loss the whole coun- 
ti y feels ;il his departure. For Stephen B. Elkins was a 
great man, and no great man (Uparts this life witlioul a 
national sense of h)ss, and without erealiiig a national 
grief. 

Bisniaick (l( lined a ^ical man tersely in these words: 
"'IMiice siijns indicate a gi'eal man -generosity in (hsii*n. 
humanity in the execution, and modi'ialion in succiss." 
Sri:riii;N B. Iu.kins possessed these attributes to a high 

[781 



Address of Mr. Langley, of Kentucky 

degree. He was generous in the outlines of all his plans, 
human and loving in their execution, and a most modest 
man when success crowned his efforts. 

He was not born great. On a farm in southern Ohio 
he trod the usual road that western farm boys followed 
from 1841 to 1851. His life was but a copy of thousands 
of other lives in every State of the Union. As a boy, with- 
out fortune or friends, he entered Missouri, attended the 
common schools and its college, and a few years later, 
with less fortune and fewer friends, he pushed through 
the military lines into New Mexico. Nor was greatness 
thrust upon. He had to make his own way, and nobly 
did he perform the task. In the wilds of this western 
Territory he became a doer of life's great work — a master 
of its most intricate problems. He learned the Spanish 
language and cultivated the friendship of his western 
neighbors, and in 1864, in his twentj^-third j^ear, was sent 
by them to the Territorial legislature. He was vigorous, 
aggressive, and not afraid to work. He was true to his 
convictions and true to his friends. He was in turn Ter- 
ritorial district attorney, Territorial attorney general, and 
United States district attorney. He was elected as a Dele- 
gate to the Forty-third Congress, where his career in 
national politics really began. Instead of returning to 
New Mexico to look after his fences, he went to Europe to 
improve his mind and broaden his soul. While abroad 
he was renominated by his people and sent back to the 
Forty-fourth Congress. During his first j^ear at Wash- 
ington he was placed on the Republican national com- 
mittee, which place he held for many years. 

No man in New Mexico worked harder and no one was 
more honored. His enlarged political life was never per- 
mitted to submerge his business life. He was born to do 
great things in the business world, and tlie consuniniiition 
of these greater things called for an enlarged theater of 

[79] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

operations. In the East he louiul a home in West Vir- 
ginia, where for his business ventures there was a field 
worthy of the genius who created them. Nor did great 
business ventures destroy his political force or acumen. 
In December, 1891, he entered President Harrison's Cabi- 
net and served as Secretary' of War until Marcli 1, 1893. 
In the next year he was elected to the Senate of the United 
States from West Virginia and reelected successively in 
1001 and 1907. He died in ollice, known to all men in 
all parties and honored equally by all parties. 

It has been said, most truly, I think, that " superiority 
of circumstances always marks the great num." Judged 
by this standard. Senator Elkins was great. He tri- 
umphed over the poverty of birth, the tragedy of a 
friendless youth, and died one of the best known as well 
as one of the best loved men of the Nation. He never 
waited for wealth or greatness to come to him, but with 
courage and high hope fought his way to both. He was 
one of the commissioned guides of mankind, as all great 
men ought to be. 

As a young man in Washington I learned to love his 
genial, sunny (Hsposilion. He was approachable by 
youth, and the novice never failed to be greeted with a 
kind word or a cheerj' smile. He treated young men as 
his equals, and this gained him friends on all sides and 
held them as with "hooks of steel." He had a great intel- 
lect under splendid control. His mentality enabUd him 
to gr;isp the roots ol' things, ;in(l liis sphiuUd poise kept 
him from wandering into brilliant Inil illusive bypaths. 
He knew just when to put on the brakes, and lor these 
reasons was a born Kader of nu-n, as well as a kader of 
lca(U'rs. It took Icadirsliip of net siniill magnitude to 
eii.ihlf liini to eonif ;is a lU publiean Senaloi' Iroiu West 
N'irLiiiiia, llic onl\ one llun I'loiii llic solid South. 



[80] 



Address of Mr. Langley, of Kenticky 

His career as a Senator is too well known to be 
rehearsed at this time. He was emphatically a developer 
of West Virginia, and in a broader sense a developer of 
the whole country. His exertions led to larger appro- 
priations, not only for West Virginia rivers, but for all 
the rivers of the country. To him the improvement of 
the Big Sandy River owes its origin, and thousands of 
people in the great Valley of the Big Sandy in West 
Virginia and Kentucky will forever remember Senator 
Elkins wdth reverence and esteem. 

He was a great captain of industry in West Virginia. 
He was not only a good lawmaker, but a splendid road 
builder. He created four railroads in his State, having 
a total of 500 miles and becoming feeders of other great 
trunk lines. To build 500 miles of railroad in the moun- 
tains of West Virginia required a wonderful masteiy of 
management as well as a profound knowledge of men. 
He brought Democrats and Republicans alike under the 
sway of his personal magnetism and united them as an 
irresistible force in the development of his adopted State. 
He created his home town out of nothing, gave it a splen- 
did position on the map of the world, and left it the center 
of a great industrial field. The town of Elkins alone will 
forever commemorate his name in West Virginia, while 
the " Elkins law " is one of the great monuments to his 
senatorial life. 

He was a Republican in political faith and believed in 
the principles of his party. He was a firm believer in the 
doctrine of protection and was always alert in its defense. 
He believed that it always built up a countrj' and helped 
the laboring man and that it was constructive and not 
destructive. Some of his greatest senatorial efforts were 
in championship of this cardinal doctrine of Republican- 
ism. He was a most progressive man. He desired his 
people to have the best and to be the best. Ever in the 



87°— 12- 



[81] 



Memohial Addresses: Senator Klkins 

front where undeveloped wealth was to be made pro- 
ductive and where great and new markets were to be 
made, he infused these ideas into his fellows, so that, 
whatever their views as to protection, they stood behind 
him, supporting him and helping him. His life was event- 
ful and full of power. It was a life of struggle from the 
first to the last. He was a fighter for better things. He 
fought for an education; he fought for a start in life; he 
mastered a foreign tongue and fought the ideas of a par- 
tially foreign people and gained their good will; he 
fought his way to the best that New Mexico had and then 
enlarged the arena of his blows; he fought llu- great 
aggregations of business and won a commanding place; 
he fought nature at her worst and built 500 miles of rail- 
road; he fought nature again and made her yield to 
humanity her hidden stores of wealth. He triiiniphed 
and died a truly successful man. Democrats and Repub- 
licans alike grieve over his death and alike admire and 
praise his persistent, unconquerable power. 

Few men were cheek by jowl with all the gieat nun 
for 35 years as was he. He began with Lincoln and ended 
with Taft. His friendships extended actively willi all the 
good and great men of his party. His intinuile rehitions 
with Harrison made him Secretary of War, and his genial 
disposition gave him friendships by the thousand with 
all elasses of nun fioni Presidents to engineers, from 
Senators to coal miners; and anu)ng all of these he was 
everywhere proclaimed a good fellow, a true friend, and 
in every sense a man. 

He sleeps in a "("lirisliaii graveyard (lod's i\cvv the 
city of the silent," but his nuMuory will liiigci- long in tlic 
hearts and atVections of the .\nu liean people. 



[82] 



Remarks of Rev. Dr. Radcliffe 

Funeral services for the Hon. Stephen Benton Elkins 
were held in the Presbyteriaii Church at Elkins, W. Va., 
on Saturday, January 7, 1911. At these services Rev. Dr. 
Wallace Radcliffe, pastor of the New York Avenue Pres- 
byterian Church, of Washington, D. C, paid the following 
eloquent tribute to the memory of the late Senator: 

This crowded assembly and mourning community are 
but representatives of hearts and homes and communities 
all over this land, whose eyes and affections turn to this 
hour in great tenderness, sympathy, and profound sense 
of loss. And yet, in the darkness and sorrow of this hour, 
the character of Senator Elkins's life must give a motive 
and atmosphere. He was incarnate cheerfulness. What- 
ever trouble, difficulty, or task he was laboring under, the 
cheer of his character and countenance expressed and 
inspired an abiding hopefulness. 

Tears must fall. It is appointed to all to sorrow, but 
in this hour we sorrow not as those that have no hope. 
From his optimism, even in this darkness, there shines 
forth the ray of hope. Into death there is the assurance 
of eternal hope. 

It was given to our friend to live during the wondrous 
years from Lincoln to Taft. These were years unusually 
large and great in opportunities, a period of progressive 
development unparalleled in the history of the world. He 
saw opportunities, met the responsibilities, and achieved 
their honors. 

Senator Elkins was a typical American, versatile, 
undaunted, victorious as soldier, lawyer, captain of in- 
dustry, district attorney, Congressman, Secretary of War, 

[83] 



MEMORIAL x\.DUHI£SSES : SENATOR KlKINS 

United States Senator, and empire builder of this great 
Commonwealth. 

He possessed large powers. His verj' physique was an 
element of success; liis presence caught the eye and com- 
manded admiration. His field of activity was remark- 
ably varied, from New Mexico to West Virginia, from the 
camp to the Senate Chamber. 

He had a capacity for hard work which organized 
industries, projected railways, developed wealth, built 
cities and States, administered national trusts, accom- 
plished legislation influential and beneficial, and ends 
his career an acknowledged leader and builder of our 
national life. He had a genius for friendship and no 
doubt for enmity. Achievement is often through antag- 
onism. The success of one is often the defeat of another. 

The powers which he possessed were the gifts of God, 
and these gifts made him a leader of his fellow men 
intellectually, socially, and politically. 

His geniality captured personality, dismissed cloudy 
and angry thought, and by the sunshine of life he won 
and conquered men. 

Recently, when the Senator was asked to exphiin his 
splendid physique, he answered that it was because he 
"never got mad." By daily act and spirit he preaclud 
the gospel of cheerfulness. He illustrated the grace of 
geniality; he declared the power of practicalness; he 
reveak'd the crown of common sense; he could see things 
as lluy were and could gras[) Ihini at the riglil end. A 
great man, a willing and able servant, a master builder of 
the Stale and Nation, a gifted leader at the h(>ad of the 
ct)lunin of modem |)r()gress and achicvcnunl. 

W'f must nol fori^cl llie lai'gesl and best pari ol' his 
life. A few year's ago in lliis place he piihlii'ly fdnfessed 
his faith in llu' Lord Jesns Chiist and his personal aeeej)!- 
ance of Mini as his Savior and Master. Tlure is noth- 



8.J] 



Remarks of Ri:v. Dr. Radclii it: 



ing higher, better, or more enduring than this. He com- 
mended himself to the blood of atonement and to the 
indwelling Spirit of God. His humility was his crown; 
his surrender was his victory. He was not too proud to 
acknowledge the authority of the divine Word, the duty 
of Christ, and the salvation of the cross. 

Had he lived in the days of Asaph he would have been 
one of those of whom Asaph sang — 

I said, " Ye are gods." 

The singer was exalting the dignity and authority of 
rulers. 

To the Hebrew mind the rulers were " gods," in their 
office representative of divine honor, idea, wealth, and 
power. Our friend had kindred, station, wealth, place, 
influence worthy of his gifts and endowments. Yet 
Asaph continues his song — 

Ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. 

It was given to this man that he should move in the 
realm of divine ideas and eternal purposes. He was used 
to fulfill divine thought and intentions concerning this 
Nation and American humanity. The men in office arc 
in a wonderful sense the gods not for privilege but for 
service. But these " gods shall die like men." It is 
the old story of the splendor of Saladin's banquet hall, 
whose most elaborate and commanding banner bore the 
inscription : 

Saladin, king of kings; 

Saladin, victor of victors; 

Saladin must die. 

It is appointed unto man once to die. It is not by 
chance. It is an incident. We are here for the eterni- 
ties. God has us in school. He gives us our lessons and 
discipline until we are ready to graduate or be dismissed 
as incorrigibles. 

[85] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Elkins 

Senator Elkins died at exactly the right time. His 
work was done. We are in sorrow and sympathy with 
the family, the community, and the Nation. The Nation 
loses a wise counselor and a brave leader. But this is 
not all of life. If it were, life would not be worth living, 
with its multitude of pains and contradictions. Life pre- 
pares for the eternities. Life begins, but never ends. 
His life was an accomplishment, an incident, a triumph, 
a graduation. He served his generation by the will of 
God and fell to sleep. There is impressive significance 
in that word "served." It is originally applied to the 
slave who rows in the galleys. The will of God appoints 
us often to hard and continuous work. It brings weari- 
ness, sweat on the brow, pain to the muscles, often disap- 
pointment, defeat, and hardness. But it is the will of 
God, and it is carrying His vessel of large thought and 
redemption on to the certain heaven. 

Senator Elkins's life was part of the divine decrees, 
and, consciously or unconsciously, his railroads, mines, 
business, legislations, victories, and defeats were all the 
compelled sersice to God's chariot. But he sleeps. And 
could those dumb lips speak to-day their appeal would 
be that we live for righteousness, for obedience, for im- 
mortality; and if we would obtain honor, thai it he unto 
tlic crown of life; if we would gather treasure, tliat we 
lay it up in God. 



^ 



[8G] 



B n '\7 



